Kehinde Wiley: What the Light Becomes at Sean Kelly, New York — 6 Nov–23 Dec 2026
Sean Kelly presents What the Light Becomes, Kehinde Wiley’s fourth exhibition with the gallery, which it describes as a love letter to New York. After years of making work around the world, Wiley (born 1977) returns to the city where his career began and turns to contemporary New Yorkers. The sitters were not cast: Wiley met them by chance on the street, running everyday errands, and invited them to be photographed in their own clothes, with some elements added by stylist Ugo Mozie. The body of work is structured around Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, using the cycle of the year as a metaphor for transition, renewal and regeneration. The show brings together new paintings, oil studies on paper and a film that follows several of the sitters.
| Exhibition | What the Light Becomes |
|---|---|
| Artist(s) | Kehinde Wiley |
| Gallery | Sean Kelly, New York |
| Exhibition type | Solo exhibition — painting, oil studies on paper and film |
| Dates | 6 November – 23 December 2026. Opening reception: Thursday 5 November 2026, 6–8pm, with the artist present |
| Address | 475 Tenth Avenue (at 36th Street), New York, NY 10018, USA |
| Opening hours | Tuesday–Friday 11am–6pm; Saturday 10am–6pm. Sunday–Monday hours not published — check with the gallery |
| Phone | +1 212 239 1181 |
| [email protected] | |
| Gallery website | skny.com |
| Official exhibition page | Kehinde Wiley — What the Light Becomes |
| Artist page | Kehinde Wiley at Sean Kelly |
| Social media | Gallery: Instagram @seankellygallery, Facebook. No artist social accounts are linked from the gallery site. |
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Read the Art Fair analysis
Our in-depth article on this exhibition looks at how Wiley’s street-cast portraiture comes home to New York and why the seasonal structure matters. For more openings in Istanbul, Ankara, London, Paris, Spain, Dubai and the United States, see Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.
Cover image: Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of Madison Billups, 2026, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in. © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy the artist and Sean Kelly, New York. Details are taken from the gallery’s official exhibition and artist pages.