The Jewish Museum to Present Kehinde Wiley in Conversation, 3/15

The Jewish Museum will present American painter Kehinde Wiley in conversation with Today Show contributor Lola Ogunnaike on Thursday, March 15 at 6:30 pm. Kehinde Wiley will discuss his latest series, The World Stage: Israel. On view at The Jewish Museum beginning March 9, this exhibition showcases vibrant large-scale portraits of Israeli youths, each embedded in a unique background inspired by Jewish ceremonial art, as well as works selected by Wiley from the Museum's collection.

Tickets for this program are $15 for the general public; $12 for students and seniors; and $10 for Jewish Museum members and can be ordered by calling 212.423.3337 or from TheJewishMuseum.org/wileyprograms.

Kehinde Wiley. Photo: Kwaku Alston.
Courtesy of Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA
Kehinde Wiley/The World Stage: Israel features 14 large-scale paintings from The World Stage: Israel. The exhibition features 14 large-scale paintings from the contemporary American painter Kehinde Wiley's newest series, The World Stage: Israel. The vibrant portraits of Israeli youths from diverse ethnic and religious affiliations are each embedded in a unique background influenced by Jewish ceremonial art. Also included are 11 works - papercuts and large textiles - chosen by the artist from The Jewish Museum's collection. All of the 14 paintings on view are being displayed in New York for the first time.

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977) is originally from Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Beijing, Dakar and New York. A gifted painter, he takes everyday people and paints them often larger than life-size in the grand poses of nobles, saints and colonial rulers from classical European portraiture. While the body language is borrowed from the past, the clothes are current and often hip-hop in style. His paintings are in the collections of over forty museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum; High Museum; Walker Art Center; Brooklyn Museum; and The Jewish Museum, New York.

Lola Ogunnaike

Journalist Lola Ogunnaike is one of the leading pop culture authorities in the country and is currently a contributor to The Today Show. She served as culture reporter for CNN and The New York Times and her articles have appeared in Elle, Harper's Bazaar and New York Magazine.

An infrared assistive listening system for the hearing impaired is available for programs in the Museum's S. H. and Helen R. Scheuer Auditorium.

Public Programs at The Jewish Museum are supported, in part, by public funds from by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Major annual support is provided by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. The stage lighting has been funded by the Office of Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. The audio-visual system has been funded by former New York State Assembly Member Jonathan Bing.