"There is a political and racial context behind everything that I do. Not always because I design it that way, or because I want it that way, but rather because it's just the way people look at the work of an African-American artist in this country." Kehinde Wiley draws from the history of portraiture to situate people of African descent within an evolving art historical canon. Wiley painted this portrait "Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence)" early in his career. The figure's hair serves as a decorative motif that twists and extends throughout the canvas. The figure consequently claims both an abundance of physical space in the composition and within an art historical narrative from which Black men are often excluded. You can view Wiley's more recent portrait of President Barack Obama at the Brooklyn Museum through October 24 as part of "The Obama Portraits Tour." — Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977), "Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence)", 2001. Oil on canvas, 72 1/2 x 72 1/2 in. The St...