Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977). <em>Go</em>, 2003. Oil on panel, Each panel: 48 x 120 x 2 1/2 in. (121.9 x 304.8 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Mary Smith Dorward Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B, 2003.90.1a-e. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2003.90.1a-e_Design_scan.jpg)

Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977). Go, 2003. Oil on panel, Each panel: 48 x 120 x 2 1/2 in. (121.9 x 304.8 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Mary Smith Dorward Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B, 2003.90.1a-e. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2003.90.1a-e_Design_scan.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Can you explain this piece? Are the males in it famous rappers?

That is a painting by Kehinde Wiley. The men are not famous rappers. They are ordinary men that Wiley met on the streets who chose to pose for him.

You may have read this on the label already, but if not: "This ceiling mural of five panels depicts five young black men in various poses floating through a blue sky scattered with cumulus clouds. Large, ornate doily-like halos surround the head and most of the body of three of the figures. Only the legs of one figure are visible; a figure in the far distance has a doily-like halo encircling his head."

The artist is using famous art history paintings and art historical styles such as Baroque and Rococo but with contemporary sitters dressed in their own clothing to make a comment about the absence of Black sitters in art history.

Who are the people in this ceiling painting?

Good question! We don't know who they are specifically. The artist, Kehinde Wiley, finds his models by walking around the streets and asking people to participate in his art. He first started this process while he was an Artist in Residence at the Studio Museum in 2001 and has since expanded this practice to projects in other countries as well.

Go

Kehinde Wiley

Contemporary Art

ARTIST Kehinde Wiley, American, born 1977

MEDIUM Oil on panel

DATES 2003

DIMENSIONS Each panel: 48 x 120 x 2 1/2 in. (121.9 x 304.8 x 6.4 cm) Installed: 240 x 120 in. (609.6 x 304.8 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2003.90.1a-e

CREDIT LINE Mary Smith Dorward Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION This ceiling mural of five panels depicts five young black men in various poses floating though a blue sky scattered with cumulus clouds. Large, ornate doily-like halos surround the head and most of the body of three of the figures. Only the legs of one figure are visible; a figure in the far distance has a doily-like halo encircling his head. The paintings are numbered a-e starting with the top panel in the thumbnail and moving down to the bottom panel.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977). Go, 2003. Oil on panel, Each panel: 48 x 120 x 2 1/2 in. (121.9 x 304.8 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Mary Smith Dorward Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B, 2003.90.1a-e. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2003.90.1a-e_Design_scan.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 2003.90.1a-e_Design_scan.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Can you explain this piece? Are the males in it famous rappers?

That is a painting by Kehinde Wiley. The men are not famous rappers. They are ordinary men that Wiley met on the streets who chose to pose for him.

Who are the people in this ceiling painting?