1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly.
Dictionary.com defines intertextuality as "The whole network of relations, conventions and expectations by which a text is defined; the relationship between texts."
So as far as I understand, 'intertextuality' is an academic term invented to describe the fact that all texts are somehow interconnected because they are inadvertently inspired by every other text that has come before, and are therefore, also an inadvertent reference to every other text in existence. For example, A woman somewhere in the past reads a poem that greatly moves here, and inspires her to write a book called 'Gone with the wind' which in turn inspires the next generation of novelist to write sweeping love stories set against the backdrop of a senseless war, which in turn inspires some movie maker to make a comedy about people who read romance novels, which in turn inspires another filmmaker to make a modern love story set in an airport, because thats where people buy cheap romance novels, which in turn inspires another director to make the second Die Hard movie in an airport, so that he can have a scene of John MacLane's wife buying a novel at the airport kiosk, and so forth. So basically intertextuality means that everything is connected because every idea is built upon the ideas that have come before. And therefore the reading of every text also requires an understanding of the texts surrounding it.
2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work.
Kehinde Wiley's paintings are highly intertextual in the sense that they reference many different genres and cultures at once. His paintings are interesting because they play upon the notion that there is no one specific way of reading the text. For example, his portraits are generally painted in the style of the old rennaissance master, and some of his portraits are even 'direct' representations of classical works, to the point that many of his subjects were asked to reproduce verbatim poses from the works of rennaisance masters such as Veccellio and Giovanni batista Tiepolo.
However his subjects are usually young african american men from the streets of Brooklyn, and dressed accordingly. So he is mixing the textuality of classical art with the textuality of modern african american street culture, and in order to 'read' the text, one has to be aware of the visual styles of the rennaisance as well as being aware of the visual style of urban street culture, because otherwise one would be able to appreciate what his paintings evoke. So in essence, Wiley's paintings are a perfect representation of intertextuality at work.
3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.
According to Caldwell "Each individual artist and student belongs to several overlapping cultures and subcultural groups. Art can communicate multiple identities within one culture as well as make crosscultural comparisons. Artistic processes and products may also show cultural mixing."
As 'pluralism' refers to the mixing of cultural backgrounds in the culmination of modern artwork, the term is exemplified almost verbatim in Kehinde Wiley's paintings. In fact, Wiley's work could be used as a dictionary definition of pluralism, that's how verbatim it is. His paintings clearly show the cultural backgrounds of two (sometimes more) highly contrasting societies. On the one hand, he uses a medium and method of execution that directly emulates the stylistic values of classical 'white' society (i.e. the rennaissance, fine art,etc), and on the other hand his subject matter intones a completely different flavour of 'black' street culture.
Wliey's work seems to be commenting almost directly on the fact that during the modernity period, the art world definetly favoured the upper layers of privileged white society, and that over time, society has come to accept the fact that there can be no culture and no art without the expanding influx of intercultural influences. And Wiley's paintings clearly show how two contrasting styles or cultures can be built upon, as well as blended harmoniously in order to create a new generation of art. A new generation which has intertextual awareness of all these things which have come before.
4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview.
In almost all of Wiley's paintings, his subjects are assuming very majestic poses, and a certain air of elegance, or nobility. I think Wiley deliberately paints his subjects this way, not only in order to evoke the stylistic sensibilities of the traditional fine art culture, but also in order to actually portray them with genuine dignity. So in a way, they are genuine celebrations of the young african american man's place in society today. Wiley seems to be marinating them in his joy over the acceptance which black culture has gained in today's society. And maybe the majestic demeanor (as well as elegant classical style) with which they are portrayed is a reference to cultural hierachy in the sense that the young black male no longer has to feel like a second class citizen in today's society, because these days hip hop culture has actually become one of the dominant subcultural groups in western society.
And the clothes his subjects are dressed in are very stereotypical in one sense, but the opposite in another. Visually they are stereotypical in the sense that most african american males dress in a very distinct 'hip hop' fashion, and that they are easily recognisable as such in his paintings. But they are unstereotypical in the way they are portrayed. Stereotypically, there is a school of western cultural thought which usually associates their look with gangs and street crimes, but in Wiley's paintings, they are portrayed to look peaceful and dignified, almost tranquil in a way. So maybe Wiley is subtly adressing a stereotyperelated issue here.
REFERENCES
Chandler, D (2003) Intertextuality. Retrieved 16th Aug, 2011
http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/kehinde-wiley/
I like how Wiley doesn’t portray his subjects as aggressive as many people stereotype black African American men as being aggressive or threatening. He has put them into respectable poses which give off a sense of dignity. It’s also very effective how he hasn’t put them in different clothing; he has kept them in their street wear so that the situation remains true. His work also has depth with the interweaving vines and flowers so makes the images more realistic supporting his style of painting.
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