The Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Grand Stairwell has become a canvas, serving as an installation space during the renovation since August 2018. Currently adorning the wall is a piece by Kehinde Wiley, who is known for painting President Obama’s portrait, called “Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan.” It’s from the artist’s Rumors of Warseries, which was “inspired by the history of equestrian portraiture,” according to Wiley’s website, and at nine feet tall, the piece plays to the artist’s “interest in the aestheticization of power and masculinity.”
Wiley’s “Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan” is part of the museum’s Park Project, which aims to show installations by cutting-edge contemporary artists. See sbma.net.