Kehinde Wiley

THE WORLD STAGE: ISRAEL

Opens at The Jewish Museum on March 9^th

The Jewish Museum will present  Kehinde Wiley/The World Stage: Israel, from March 9 through July 29, 2012. A new acquisition by the contemporary American artist Kehinde Wiley (born 1977, Los Angeles) served as impetus for the exhibition. The painting, Alios Itzhak (2011), is a nine-foot tall portrait of a young Jewish Ethiopian-Israeli man surrounded by an intricate decorative background inspired by a traditional Jewish papercut in the Museum’s collection. This work was acquired in honor of The Jewish Museum’s recently retired director Joan Rosenbaum. The exhibition features 14 large-scale paintings from Kehinde Wiley’s new World Stage: Israel series. The vibrant portraits of Israeli youths from diverse ethnic and religious affiliations are each embedded in a unique background influenced by Jewish ritual art. Also included are 10 works of Jewish ceremonial 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.