Set against uninterrupted backgrounds, the bold, metallic portraits of Kip Omolade float almost deity-like amid vibrant color. Known for his hyperrealistic treatment of chrome-like visages in oil paint, the artist sometimes incorporates spray-painted elements, drawing on the graffiti culture of New York City’s subways during the 1980s and 1990s when Omolade tagged using the moniker “Kace.”
The artist also presents the mask-like faces from different vantage points, sometimes with incredible eyelashes, whether peering directly at the viewer or positioned in regal profile. Reflections are typically abstract, showing little indication of the surrounding space beyond perhaps blue skies, the sun, and local color, although the monumental “African History” is an exception.
Upon closer inspection, the whorls of “African History” reveal numerous additional faces inspired by a wide range of carved sculptures the artist observed in a long-running exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art titled The African Origin of Civilization, plus other examples from art history. Within this one, larger-than-life identity is a host of time-honored traditions and creative expressions.
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