Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence)

Kehinde Wiley draws from the history of portraiture to situate people of African descent within the art historical canon. In Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence), created early in his career, the figure’s hair serves as a decorative motif and backdrop that twists and extends throughout the canvas. The man consequently occupies an abundance of physical space in the composition and, symbolically, claims space within an art historical narrative from which Black men are often excluded.