“King of Pop” Art

The main focus of this year’s Dietch’s Projects’ Art Basel booth is the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. Jackson commissioned the piece himself in 2007, but he never got to see the final product. “I was receiving messages saying Michael Jackson wants to reach you. And I ignored them because quite honestly I thought it was a prank,” Wiley told The Art Newspaper. After Jackson’s passing, the painter, Kehinde Wiley, finished it anyway and it’s on display for the first time at Art Basel Miami Beach. Wiley usually puts hip-hop youth in the context of classical Royal portraiture.

The Art Newspaper asked him why he felt obliged to complete the work, he said “Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much input as I would have hoped for, but I think it’s something he would have been proud of. Michael was an extraordinarily talented person with a team who could realize his ideas as much as his performances and I think that his idea of collaborating with me was something that he really wanted to see through. I felt a responsibility to him to get it done.”

Via: The Art Newspaper