Kehinde Wiley Willem van Heythuysen Patch

This shield shaped patch features Kehinde Wiley’s 2006 painting Willem van Heythuysen, reimagined from Frans Hals’s Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen. Wiley’s model, a young man from Harlem, New York, can only be identified by the name of his 17th century counterpart, from the other Haarlem, in the Netherlands. Both subjects assume the position, sporting goatees, but our contemporary is draped in a snow-white Sean Jean tracksuit and Timberland boots. In this new rendition of the luxurious cloth merchant, Indian textile patterns flatten the background entirely, with tendrils protruding around the model and into the foreground.

7.6 x 7.6m 
dye-sublimation with gold merrowed borders and iron on backing