Rumors of War, Ekphrastic Poem

RUMORS OF WAR

OFFICER OF THE HUSSARS, 2007

OIL AND ENAMEL ON CANVAS 108" X 108"

There are many things that come to mind when I see this image; different feelings, knee-jerk

reactions,

and general impressions but the one word that they all have in common that raises to the top is

this: Power. This image is power, plain and simple. With rich colors, shading, and a sort of hyper

detailed styling, this comes together into a renaissance-esque portrait with a modern touch.

As well as a touch up of rich skin color. This and the other works in the collection are of a niche

genre I call Neo Afro Traditional art. It consists of using traditionals themes of artwork and adding

something

anachronistic to the general feel of the work. Such as adding a cellphone to a famous traditional

painting. That would be Neo Traditional on its own, but with placing Black people as the subjects,

it becomes Neo Afro Traditional. It warrants the genre distinction as when you think of classical

works of art, Black people don’t often come to first. Traditional art has excluded Black people so by

adding in Black people, it becomes a whole new thing.

But even on top of that, this work (and the others) adds another dimension to it with the clothes

Kehinde chooses to paint them in. Of the many prejudices and troubles Black people face,

there is the constant feeling of powerlessness. So to see a brother, up on a horse with a sword in hand

(a classic symbol of power) there is an uplifting feeling looking at it.

But even further there are the clothes he’s wearing. Within the Black community there is a term we call,

self-policing. It refers to how we consciously think about how we are perceived; what in our

appearance could seem ghetto, threatening, and trashy. And with self-policing we dress differently,

in more (shall we say) appeasing attire. It because of the negative connotations of typical African

American streetwear that we rarely see it in any positive light. But in this work, we see the subject in

a tank-top, sagging jeans and timbs. Rather than dress in the outfit of the original work,

this to me says “We are powerful on our own terms, in our own ways” that we don’t have to dress

differently to show our worth. It is an inspiring piece of artwork.