Kehinde Wiley Asks Trump for Chance to Buy Back Embassy Painting

Kehinde Wiley has asked to buy back his painting "Young Artists After Siamesas 1960" (2015) after the US State Department removed it from the United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic last month, according to a letter the artist sent to President Donald Trump on September 24.

The State Department took down the painting from its Santo Domingo embassy in August, citing the artist's "violent and racist words and depictions." The removal came at the behest of Trump-backed officials Leah Campos, US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and Erin Scavino, head of the State Department's Art in Embassies program.

In a statement shared with Hyperallergic in August, a State Department spokesperson said elected officials and the department were in discussions with lawyers to "ascertain whether the art can be sold."

Wiley's letter, which Sean Kelly Gallery shared on social media earlier this week, puts the artist forward as a buyer.

"If your administration has determined that it no longer wishes to display the work, I would like to ask for the opportunity to purchase it back," Wiley writes. "I created this painting for a particular place and with a particular purpose. I spent two years studying the work of Dominican artists and worked with young artists in Santo Domingo in making it."

The artist's account emphasizes the work's local roots. He developed the painting over two years of research into Dominican art and collaborated with young artists in Santo Domingo before its completion in 2015.

Sean Kelly Gallery has represented Wiley since 2010. Neither the artist nor the gallery has responded to Hyperallergic's request for comment.

The letter moves the dispute over the painting from a question of display to one of ownership. If the administration entertains Wiley's offer, the case could set a precedent for how the federal government disposes of commissioned works by artists it declines to exhibit.