An Economy of Grace is Kehinde Wiley’s debut exhibition at the Sean Kelly gallery. The exhibition is Wiley’s first body of work depicting African-American women and his first-ever series dedicated to female subjects. The models for the paintings were found on the streets of New York City and their poses are based on historical portraits of society women by Jacques-Louis David, Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent, among others. Usually Wiley represent his subjects in their own clothes but in this case he collaborated with Riccoardo Tisci, the Creative Director of Givenchy to design dresses for the women. The exhibit runs through June 16th, 2012.
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