Barkley L. Hendricks

Hendricks is best known for his life-sized portraits of Black Americans that he often elevated to celebrity status. The exhibited work is a tribute to the Afrobeat pioneer and human rights activist Fela Kuti, who is depicted as a secular saint. Fela Kuti’s protest songs were inspired by the realities of corruption and socio-economic inequality in Africa. Here, standing on an altar, resplendent in gold with a halo over his head, he holds a microphone in one hand and his crotch in the other. The high-heeled shoes reference the 27 women he married in 1978 in a symbolic communal ceremony.

Barkley L. Hendricks (1945-2017, USA) was an African American painter who made pioneering contributions to Black portraiture and conceptualism. He graduated from the Yale School of Art. His work was exhibited at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York and the Brooklyn Museum.