''Go'' is the title of a pair of artworks by the American artist

Kehinde Wiley Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977)"Kehinde Wiley"
''Artnet''. Retrieved October 13, 2010. i ...

. Both pieces depict young black people set against blue skies. The first piece, a series of oil paintings executed in 2003, are in the collection of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

; the second is a stained-glass

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...

designed for the ceiling of the

Moynihan Train Hall Moynihan Train Hall is an expansion of Pennsylvania Station, the main intercity and commuter rail station in New York City, into the city's former main post office building, the James A. Farley Building. Located between Eighth Avenue, Nin ...

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, New York City.

''Go'' painting series

The ''Go'' series of five panels painted in oil is in the collection of the

in New York City. Each panel measures 48 × 120 × 2 1/2 in. (121.9 × 304.8 × 6.4 cm). The panels are numbered a-e. The series has been exhibited on the ceiling of the museum.

''Go'' stained glass triptych

The ''Go'' triptych in

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

one of three permanent artworks specifically designed for installation at the expanded

, New York City. It was commissioned by the

Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

in partnership with the

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris Freedman, Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, n ...

of New York. It was unveiled in December 2020. It is situated across the ceiling of the 33rd Street Midblock Entrance Hall of the station. The metal molding that surrounds the panels is intended to complement the metal frames of the exterior windows of the train hall. The work is hand painted on Czech glass and lit from behind. It depicts

break dancers Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African Americans, African American and Puerto Rican Americans, Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse ...

set against a blue sky. The subjects of the piece wear contemporary clothing including "baggy yellow pants and a crop top" and a

denim jacket A denim jacket, also called a jean jacket or trucker jacket, is a jacket made from denim. Introduced in the United States in the late 19th century, it has been a popular type of casual apparel with both men and women and has been described as an i ...

. Wiley's use of

foreshortening Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...

in the piece is in homage to the 18th century artist

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an impo ...

who was noted for his frescoed ceilings. Due to time constraints Wiley used subjects of his previous works as models for the piece instead of his usual practice of selecting strangers from the street. Wiley stated that he wished to "play with the language of ceiling frescoes" finding that in ceiling frescoes "people

xpress Xpress may refer to: *Xpress (TV series), an award-winning multi cultural entertainment series *Xpress, a regional passenger bus service provided by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority in metropolitan Atlanta * X*Press X*Change, an obsol ...

a type of levity and religious devotion and ascendancy" and that the movement in such frescos is reminiscent of breakdancing.

Breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

originated in New York City and Wiley wanted to express "this idea of expressing absolute joy — break dancing in the sky". Wiley declared that the "aesthetic of Black culture is the aesthetic of survival, of buoyancy and saliency and the ability to float in the midst of so much". Wiley said that he hoped that people recognised themselves in the piece as he wished to create "at the intersection of trade, commerce and transportation in the capital of the world's economy, something that sits as a testament to Black possibility". The

described the piece as " elebratingthe vibrancy and virtuosity of bodies in motion at monumental scale" and the figures as "contemporary avatars of the sublime". Writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Dionne Searcey felt the "outstretched finger" of a woman wearing camouflage was reminiscent of ''

The Creation of Adam '' Creation of Adam'' () is a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, painted c. 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives li ...

'' in

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's fresco for the

Sistine Chapel ceiling The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( it, Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built with ...

. Searcey felt that "Instead of angels and gods in classical frescoes, Mr. Wiley offers Nike logos and pigeons in midflight".

Gallery

References

{{Portal bar, Painting, Visual Arts 2003 paintings 2020 works Black people in art Collection of the Brooklyn Museum Oil paintings Stained glass windows Works by Kehinde Wiley