KIHENDE WILEY Louis XVI, The Sun King, 2006 cast marble dust and resin, ed. of 250 10 x 91/2 x 3 inches Price: $1,000 Courtesy of Cerealart, Philadelphia, PA

Kihende Wiley was born in 1977 in Los Angeles, earning his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and his MFA from Yale University’s School of Art. He is based in New York and has situated himself within the historical tradition of portrait painting—but with a definite twist. The artist notes that “. . . the history of Western European painting is the history of Western European white men in positions of dominance.” To disrupt these depictions of power, Wiley has taken the poses in iconic portraits of such historic figures as Napoleon and substituted young African-American men in their stead.

More recently, Wiley has moved into the realm of sculpture, using the format of the classic Renaissance or Baroque portrait bust. Louis XVI, The Sun King is influenced by a portrait by Bernini. Here a young black man, dressed in urban street attire (a hoodie that morphs into a regal cloak) ironically assumes the body language of a king.