Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace

The artist behind Barack Obama’s presidential portrait, Kehinde Wiley is known for his vibrant, larger-than-life reinterpretations of classical portraits featuring young Black men. “Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace” follows the artist as he embarks upon an exciting new project – a series of classical portraits of Black women. Embracing serendipity and chance, Kehinde casts his models on the bustling streets of New York – highlighting Chanel, a prison guard at Riker’s Island; Shantavia, a teen mother working for her GED; Cali and Dacia, young lovers in the throws of a new romance; Treisha, an immigrant from Barbados with attitude to spare; and Ena, a nurse who hopes to one day open an art gallery of her own. Finding models is just the beginning of Wiley’s elaborate process. The artist collaborates with Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci to design gowns for his subjects to pose in, paints in his studio in Beijing and finally unveils his works at the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York for all to see. “An Economy of Grace” is an exploration of Black beauty and an intimate portrait of one of this generation’s most intriguing and accomplished visionaries.

• Director : Jeff Dupre
• Story Writer : Ana Veselic
• Producers : Jessica Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre, & Ana Veselic
• Music : Nathan Halpern & Chris Ruggiero
• Cinematography : Robert Hanna, Wolfgang Held, William Pena
• Editing : Ana Veselic
• Colorist : Mike Nuget
• Post Production Coordinators : Matt Rigby, Daniel Gilbert
• Graphic Designer : Eugen Bräunig
• Sound Mixers : John Zecca, Mark Roy, Richard Fleming, Martin Czembor
• Dialogue Editor : Marlena Grzaslewicz
• Sound Recordists : Mark Mandler & Richard Fleming
• Dialogue Editor : Marlena Grzaslewicz
• Sound Effects Editor : Ira Spiegel
• Assistant Sound Editor : Matt Rigby
• Assistant Editors : Kristian Gonzales & Nathan Manley
• Additional Cinematography : Zachary Zezima, David Smoler, Jenni Morello, Ross Kauffman, François Huyghe, & Tom Hurwitz
• Production Assistants : Eddie Kuspiel & Rachel Kahn Taylor
• Transcriber : Dan Levy

• Year of Production : 2014
• Home Video Release Date : May 16, 2023
• Running Time : 40 minutes
• Sound Format : 5.1
• Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
• Rating : NR
• Country : US
• Language : English
• Genre : Documentary