Kehinde Wiley On Puma, Deitch, And The American Dream

Last week PSFK sat down with prolific contemporary painter Kehinde Wiley to discuss his recent collaboration with Puma in honor of the World Cup year, as well as PUMA’s long-standing partnership with African football (the Company sponsors 12 African teams, five of which have qualified for World Cup). As part of the collaboration, Kehinde was commissioned to create four original works of art inspired by three of African football’s most distinguished players, as well as provide visual inspiration for a limited-edited Puma line. Far from daunted, this collaboration appears to be of the most organic kind- fitting seamlessly with Wiley’s overall body of work.

Wiley’s style, perhaps best recognized for his juxtaposition of contemporary African American men with traditional poses from the canon of western art history- is often set against elaborate, colorful, and almost one dimensional backgrounds- resulting in work both visually arresting as well as thought provoking. Just hours before his opening at Deitch Projects, Kehinde talked to us about art, football, working with the Puma team, and what it means to be part of a global cultural movement.

PSFK: How has it been working with Puma?

KW: It’s been an incredible evolution, honestly, and in some ways it’s been an interesting challenge- as an American, football (rather, soccer) is not the dominant cultural form. However, working on this project was really exciting because it would be a chance to really travel and absorb Africa. My father is Nigerian and I’ve always loved Nigeria. My last sort of mega exhibition in New York was about working in Nigeria and Senegal, and was all about the decorative tradition of that culture, as well as the casting. We went about finding complete strangers in the street and making them into these huge-scale figures. So that process has been the driving passion, the desire [behind much of my work]- and when Puma wanted to engage about the World Cup being in Africa in 2010 it seemed like the perfect marriage. This isn’t just some put on- this is what I genuinely am inspired by.  I wanted to create something where I had a hand in the actual design process- I didn’t just want a by proxy situation where they just put my name on it and sent it off. It was a real back and forth between me and the design team, a mutual effort.

PSFK: How did you choose which designs to use?

KW: I went to the streets. I was in Africa with my friends, and we went out into the markets and looked at reams and reams of fabric- later figuring out which photo, which portrait worked best with what- it was really a hands on and sort of intuitive experience. There’s no concise system for it,  it was more of an ineffable process. A visceral decision about what had the right look and feel for what we were doing.

PSFK:I know you’ve already had one show solo show at Deitch Projects- how was collaborating with a brand different than when working solely on your own vision? Did you feel in any way artistically compromised?

KW:There is actually a lot of conceptual overlap between the two projects. My work is about engaging the  contemporary  global street-whether it’s Harlem or Columbo, Sri Lanka. And many people say it’s  hip hop , many people say it’s a global cultural urgency which is driven by a sort of African essence- I don’t know what it is- but to engage with popular culture is something that I’m excited about. I mean, in the 21st century artists occupy many different states- and it is my job to do whatever it is I do as  well as possible.  To view the world through my eyes and make my vision resonate with the viewer.

PSFK: Did you approach Puma or did they approach you?

KW: Puma approached me at the same time I was working on the Africa Project – so it definitely felt like the perfect marriage. A series of twin desires almost sandwiched in tandem. The Studio Museum show that I did-that was all about African culture. All the models I used were from various parts and regions of Africa. So when puma approached me for this project it was like “let’s broaden it”. It’s felt like a chance to see Africa in a better light rather than all of these negative images of war, famine, disease.  You know, I go to Africa and Senegal constantly – and the life that I see there is global. It’s about hard working people that want to feed their kids or fall in love,  people who love great music and just are going about their lives- but [as an artist] I wanted to put my stamp on it. Be part of the evolution of the way people view the world .

PSFK: It seems that in much of your work you broach the “American Dream”? How did that translate when working on a project about African unity?

KW: When you talk about an American dream, or an American image, or American model you are mostly talking about status or power. [In my paintings] These are predominantly young black American men who in many ways have cultural and physical and stylistic heritage- but who also have a connection with the people I see all over the place. It transcends race or nationality- it’s a global dream. When I go to the streets of Beijing China, or my other studio in Senegal – people all love the same shit, love the same music, care about how they dress- so what is that?  What does that “belong” to? It’s this sort of unique global culture. Is it hip hop anymore? Or is it just youth global culture? And then  what form does it take and how does it alter itself and how does it self- approximate? These are things which in someway I try to  picture as I work –my work being in some ways about the evolution of culture. It’s about being very aware of  every chance encounter with the world.

PSFK: Do you think this new project will bring you to a broader audience?

KW: The Puma project is clearly one of the largest things that I’ve engaged in. Football is something that outside of the states  is more popular than you can imagine, so of course it’s going to bring me to a broader audience- but the question is have I done my job well? Have I pictured not only Africa but African unity and the state of intent that I gave before- in a way that is still palpable and still authentic..and grateful.

PSFK: Did you get a hand in deciding which players were chosen for the project?

KW: Well Puma has relationships with certain players, my thing was more about the conceptual thinking. I actually sat down and met with each player and talked about the composition of their portraits. This was an intensive process where we would go over all these art history books of Pre-Colonial African sculpture, and then these guys would discuss which sculpture they would like to  envision themselves as. This was a weird almost intuitive process [as to decisions of how they would like to be portrayed] based on aesthetic connotations and visuals that resounded with each player.

PSFK: And who out of curiosity did the players choose to emulate?

KW: Well a lot was inspired by Pre-Colonial West African sculpture so in that tradition the artists don’t get titled.  There’s also the repetition of how grandfathers or great grandfathers posed- the status form. But mostly [much inspiration was derived from] from looking at these really great, beautiful sculptures. I don’t know if you saw our making of films- but what you’ll see is us sitting there, analyzing image after image- I’ll shoot about a thousand photographs and later look over and see which ones work.  It was a constant process of editing down.

While Kehinde has been extremely vocal about his enthusiasm for the Puma Project, he also hinting that as an artist he hopes to keep challenging himself and try something new with his upcoming works. While he was tight-lipped about its execution, conceptually he plans on delving deeper into other issues of contemporary importance, including status and gender. Additionally, when pressed on whether new media will take a more prominent role in upcoming endevours, he eloquently lamented  the connecting power of the internet “as a research tool”, but how the real fuel for human connection can never be replaced by a digital world community.

A little more about the collaboration :

“The collaboration and PUMA Unity Kit also includes a limited edition uniform designed to be a third kit shared by all African teams, symbolizing unity. This project will also tie in to the PUMA Spring Summer 2010 PUMA Africa lifestyle collection of apparel, footwear and accessories.  The PUMA Africa collection utilizes seven graphic patterns from Wiley’s existing work and integrates them throughout the bright, bold, color-blocking patterns of the collection.”