This post is part of Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood Association‘s Amplify Black Neighbors post series happening throughout June 2020. For more information, click here.

(BDNA Note: This post might appear double published due some technical difficulties with our website backend. We apologize for any confusion.)

Week 1 Featured Artist: Kehinde Wiley

Bio from Wikipedia: Kehinde Wiley is an American portrait painter based in New York City, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of Black people. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint a portrait (shown below) of former President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which has portraits of all the US presidents.

BDNA Note: Some of Kehinde Wiley’s artwork was shown in the Portland Art Museum in 2018. Particularly breathtaking at that exhibition was Wiley’s “Indio Cuauhtemoc (The World Stage: Brazil)”, 2017, Oil on canvas. If you have a chance to see a Wiley piece in person, don’t miss it!