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Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Rapture, 2011 Oil on canvas, 96 × 70 inches (243.8 × 177.8 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, Rapture, 2011

Oil on canvas, 96 × 70 inches (243.8 × 177.8 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, Behind the Myth of Benevolence, 2014 Oil on canvas, 59 × 34 × 7 inches (149.9 × 86.4 × 17.8 cm)© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Behind the Myth of Benevolence, 2014

Oil on canvas, 59 × 34 × 7 inches (149.9 × 86.4 × 17.8 cm)
© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, The Jerome Project (Asphalt and Chalk) V, 2014 Graphite on asphalt paper, 49 × 35 ½ inches (124.5 × 90.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Jeremy Lawson

Titus Kaphar, The Jerome Project (Asphalt and Chalk) V, 2014

Graphite on asphalt paper, 49 × 35 ½ inches (124.5 × 90.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Jeremy Lawson

Titus Kaphar, Jerome I–V, 2014 Oil, gold leaf, and tar on wood panel, in 5 parts, each: 10 × 7 inches (25.4 × 17.8 cm), Studio Museum in Harlem, New York© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Jerome I–V, 2014

Oil, gold leaf, and tar on wood panel, in 5 parts, each: 10 × 7 inches (25.4 × 17.8 cm), Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Shadows of Liberty, 2016 Oil on canvas with rusty nails, 108 × 84 inches (274.3 × 213.4 cm), Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Shadows of Liberty, 2016

Oil on canvas with rusty nails, 108 × 84 inches (274.3 × 213.4 cm), Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Enough about You, 2016 Oil on canvas with antique frame, 45 × 70 × 5 ½ inches (114.3 × 178 × 14 cm)© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Enough about You, 2016

Oil on canvas with antique frame, 45 × 70 × 5 ½ inches (114.3 × 178 × 14 cm)
© Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Menina, 2017 Oil on canvas, 76 × 54 inches (193 × 137.2 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Jeremy Lawson

Titus Kaphar, Menina, 2017

Oil on canvas, 76 × 54 inches (193 × 137.2 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Jeremy Lawson

Titus Kaphar, Shifting the Gaze, 2017 Oil on canvas, 84 × 108 inches (213.4 × 274.3 cm), Brooklyn Museum, New York© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardener

Titus Kaphar, Shifting the Gaze, 2017

Oil on canvas, 84 × 108 inches (213.4 × 274.3 cm), Brooklyn Museum, New York
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardener

Titus Kaphar, Seeing through Time, 2018 Oil on canvas, 60 × 48 inches (152.4 × 121.9 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardener

Titus Kaphar, Seeing through Time, 2018

Oil on canvas, 60 × 48 inches (152.4 × 121.9 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardener

Titus Kaphar, Language of the Forgotten, 2018 Charred white oak, high-density urethane, glass, and LED lights, 84 × 66 × 48 inches (213.4 × 167.6 × 121.9 cm), edition of 3 + 1 AP© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardner

Titus Kaphar, Language of the Forgotten, 2018

Charred white oak, high-density urethane, glass, and LED lights, 84 × 66 × 48 inches (213.4 × 167.6 × 121.9 cm), edition of 3 + 1 AP
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christopher Gardner

Titus Kaphar, State Number Two (Dwayne Betts), 2019 Tar and oil on canvas, 59 ½ × 75 ¾ inches (151.1 × 192.4 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Kris Graves

Titus Kaphar, State Number Two (Dwayne Betts), 2019

Tar and oil on canvas, 59 ½ × 75 ¾ inches (151.1 × 192.4 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Kris Graves

Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, Untitled, 2019, from the Redaction project Etching and silkscreen on paper, 22 × 30 inches (55.9 × 76.2 cm)© Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts. Photo: Kris Graves

Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, Untitled, 2019, from the Redaction project

Etching and silkscreen on paper, 22 × 30 inches (55.9 × 76.2 cm)
© Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts. Photo: Kris Graves

Titus Kaphar, From a Tropical Space, 2019 Oil on canvas, 92 × 72 inches (233.7 × 182.9 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, From a Tropical Space, 2019

Oil on canvas, 92 × 72 inches (233.7 × 182.9 cm), Museum of Modern Art, New York
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, Nothing to See Here, 2021 Oil on canvas and wood panel, latex print on vinyl, and rope, 78 ¾ × 66 × 7 ⅞ inches (200 × 167.5 × 20 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Titus Kaphar, Nothing to See Here, 2021

Oil on canvas and wood panel, latex print on vinyl, and rope, 78 ¾ × 66 × 7 ⅞ inches (200 × 167.5 × 20 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Titus Kaphar, From Whence I Came, 2022 Oil on canvas with duct tape, in 2 parts, overall: 108 ⅛ × 167 ¾ inches (274.5 × 426 cm), Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, From Whence I Came, 2022

Oil on canvas with duct tape, in 2 parts, overall: 108 ⅛ × 167 ¾ inches (274.5 × 426 cm), Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever

Titus Kaphar, The Eye of Providence, 2022 ​Oil on canvas and wood panel with latex print on vinyl, 94 × 67 ¼ inches (238.8 × 170.8 cm)© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever​​

Titus Kaphar, The Eye of Providence, 2022

​Oil on canvas and wood panel with latex print on vinyl, 94 × 67 ¼ inches (238.8 × 170.8 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever​​

About

If we don’t amend history by making new images and new representations, we are always going to be excluding ourselves.
—Titus Kaphar

Painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and installation artist Titus Kaphar confronts history by dismantling classical structures and styles of visual representation in Western art in order to subvert them. Dislodging entrenched narratives from their status as “past” so as to understand and estimate their impact on the present, he exposes the conceptual underpinnings of contested nationalist histories and colonialist legacies and how they have served to manipulate both cultural and personal identity.

Through the deconstructive techniques of cutting, shredding, stitching, binding, and erasing both subject and support, Kaphar reconstructs new codes and modalities, reckoning on Black possibilities. In Yet Another Fight for Remembrance (2014), he used thick white brushstrokes to obscure the gesturing bodies of a group of African American men in the “Hands up, don’t shoot” position, and then repainted their outlines in black to reassert their formal presence. Thus the painting process itself became the embodiment of the ongoing struggle for social visibility and recognition. During his 2017 TED Talk, Kaphar performed, onstage, the whitewashing of his large-scale painting Shifting the Gaze (2017). Based on Frans Hals’s Family Group in a Landscape (1645–48), which portrays a wealthy Dutch family and their African servant,  Kaphar’s version eclipsed the family group with white paint, shifting attention entirely to the presence of this young servant.

Kaphar’s art addresses salient social and political concerns, but it also springs from his own life story. For example, his encounter with his estranged father, Jerome, has led to an ongoing multimedia exploration of the criminal justice system called The Jerome Project (2014–). This series of portraits began with Kaphar’s online discovery of the mug shots of ninety-seven African American men who shared his father’s first and last names. He paints gilded portraits of each man in the style of Byzantine devotional icons, and then dips them in tar. Initially, the depth to which each painting was immersed in tar corresponded to the time that each subject had spent behind bars; in later paintings, this has increased to represent the longer-term implications of social silencing that results from their incarceration.

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Detail of Lauren Halsey sculpture depicting praying hands, planets, and other symbol against red and green background

Black Futurity: Lessons in (Art) History to Forge a Path Forward

Jon Copes asks, What can Black History Month mean in the year 2024? He looks to a selection of scholars and artists for the answer.

Titus Kaphar and Derek Cianfrance both wearing large headphones and tee-shirts on a film set

Titus Kaphar and Derek Cianfrance

Titus Kaphar and director Derek Cianfrance spoke on the opening night of Titus Kaphar Selects, a film program curated by the artist as part of a series copresented by Gagosian and Metrograph in the spring of 2023. The pair discussed their respective practices, including Cianfrance’s film Blue Valentine (2010) and Kaphar’s film Exhibiting Forgiveness, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024.

NXTHVN, 169 Henry Street, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo: John Dennis

NXTHVN: Curatorial Visions

Jamillah Hinson and Marissa Del Toro, recent curatorial fellows of Titus Kaphar’s nonprofit community arts hub NXTHVN, address their curatorial praxes.

Titus Kaphar and Zoé Whitley sit in front of the artist’s artwork

In Conversation
Titus Kaphar and Zoé Whitley

Join Titus Kaphar and Zoé Whitley as they discuss the artist’s recent exhibition New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion, featuring paintings and sculptures in which Kaphar examines the history of representation by altering the work’s supports to reveal oft unspoken social and political truths.

Titus Kaphar at NXTHVN, New Haven, Connecticut

NXTHVN

NXTHVN is a new national arts model that empowers emerging artists and curators of color through education and access. Through intergenerational mentorship, professional development, and cross-sector collaboration, NXTHVN accelerates professional careers in the arts. Join Titus Kaphar and Jason Price on a tour of the organization’s headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut. They discuss the founding and vision for this singular arts space.

Titus Kaphar in his studio, touching his painting.

Titus Kaphar: From a Tropical Space

Join the artist in his studio in New Haven, Connecticut, where he speaks about his latest paintings.

Titus Kaphar: Can Beauty Open Our Hearts to Difficult Conversations?

Titus Kaphar: Can Beauty Open Our Hearts to Difficult Conversations?

In this TED talk, presented during the sweeping protests against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd, Titus Kaphar describes how the beauty of a painting can draw the viewer in and allow difficult conversations to emerge. Kaphar discusses his own work and shares the idea behind NXTHVN, a new national arts model he founded to empower artists of color through education and access.

Titus Kaphar, Braiding possibility, 2020, Oil on canvas, 83 3/4 × 68 inches (212.7 × 172.7 cm)

Seeing the Child: Braiding possibility

Titus Kaphar and Tochi Onyebuchi present an excerpt from their short story “Seeing the Child,” a poetic rumination on Kaphar’s latest body of work, From a Tropical Space (2019–).

Titus Kaphar in his studio, painting

Titus Kaphar: In the Studio

Jacoba Urist reports on a recent trip to the artist’s studio in New Haven, Connecticut, to see his new body of work, From a Tropical Space (2019–). She writes on the emotional and sensory impact of these paintings and considers their singular place in Titus Kaphar’s oeuvre.

Titus Kaphar, Father and Son, 2010, oil on canvas, 59 ⅞ × 48 inches (152 × 122 cm). Photo: Jon Lam Photography, courtesy Friedman Benda

Titus Kaphar: Intricate Illusion

Bridget R. Cooks investigates the aesthetic and narrative conventions deployed by the artist, demonstrating how his paintings force provocative confrontations with history through complex modes of depiction.

The artist Titus Kaphar giving a TED talk

Titus Kaphar: Can Art Amend History?

Join Titus Kaphar as he talks about making paintings and sculptures that wrestle with the struggles of the past while speaking to the diversity and advances of the present. Working onstage, he points to the narratives coded in the language of art history as he creates a new painting, demonstrating how shifting our focus can prompt us to ask questions and confront unspoken truths.

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Still from Exhibiting Forgiveness (2023), directed by Titus Kaphar

Announcement

Exhibiting Forgiveness
2024 Sundance Film Festival

Exhibiting Forgiveness (2023), a film written, directed, and produced by Titus Kaphar, is an official selection for the US Dramatic Competition of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. Exploring family, generational healing, and the power of forgiveness, the motion picture follows a Black artist attempting to overcome the trauma of his past through painting who is on the path to success when he is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father.

Still from Exhibiting Forgiveness (2023), directed by Titus Kaphar

Still from Shut Up and Paint (2022), directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis

Screening and Talk

Titus Kaphar
Derek Cianfrance

Friday, April 28, 2023, 7pm
Metrograph, New York
metrograph.com

Join Titus Kaphar and director Derek Cianfrance on the opening night of Titus Kaphar Selects, a film program curated by the artist as part of a series copresented by Gagosian and Metrograph. The evening will include screenings of Kaphar’s short films Shut Up and Paint, an Oscar-shortlisted work in which he looks to the medium of film in the face of an insatiable art market seeking to silence his activism, and I Hold Your Love, a New Yorker documentary that explores the joys and injustices of Black motherhood. Following the screenings, the pair will speak about their respective practices and work, including Cianfrance’s 2010 film Blue Valentine, which also features in the program.

Purchase Tickets

Still from Shut Up and Paint (2022), directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis

Still from Do the Right Thing (1989), directed by Spike Lee

Screening

Titus Kaphar Selects

April 28–May 11, 2023
Metrograph, New York
metrograph.com

Titus Kaphar has curated a selection of films as part of a series copresented by Gagosian and Metrograph. The program features seven films that have each served to validate feelings of joy, pain, fear, or sorrow for the artist, as well as two short films that he directed.

Kaphar explains, “Film is a uniquely powerful medium. Its ability to tap into our emotions is unlike anything else for me. This is not a top ten list. This is a decidedly subjective selection of films that, through their vulnerability and specificity, have made me feel less alone.”

Featured films include
The Babadook
Blue Valentine
Boyz n the Hood
Do the Right Thing
Drive My Car
I Hold Your Love
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Moonlight
Shut Up and Paint

Still from Do the Right Thing (1989), directed by Spike Lee

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Museum Exhibitions

Ellen Gallagher, Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop, 2002 © Ellen Gallagher

On View

Going Dark
The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility

Through April 7, 2024
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
www.guggenheim.org

Going Dark presents works of art that feature partially obscured or hidden figures, thus positioning them at the “edge of visibility”—a formal strategy that the participating artists use to explore tensions in contemporary society. Occupying the Guggenheim Museum’s iconic rotunda, the exhibition includes more than a hundred works by twenty-eight artists, the majority of whom are Black and more than half of whom are women. Work by Ellen Gallagher and Titus Kaphar is included.

Ellen Gallagher, Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop, 2002 © Ellen Gallagher

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Father Stretch My Hands, 2021 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Rob McKeever

On View

The Time Is Always Now
Artists Reframe the Black Figure

Through May 19, 2024
National Portrait Gallery, London
www.npg.org.uk

The Time Is Always Now showcases the work of contemporary artists from the African diaspora and highlights their use of figures to illuminate the richness and complexity of Black life. The exhibition examines both the presence and the absence of Black figures in Western art history and the social, psychological, and cultural contexts in which they were produced. Work by Titus Kaphar and Nathaniel Mary Quinn is included.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Father Stretch My Hands, 2021 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Rob McKeever

Derrick Adams, Woman in Grayscale (Alicia), 2017 © Derrick Adams Studio

On View

Giants
Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys

Through July 7, 2024
Brooklyn Museum, New York
www.brooklynmuseum.org

Giants, the first major exhibition of the Dean Collection, owned by musical icons Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys, showcases a focused selection from the couple’s world-class holdings and spotlights works by Black diasporic artists. Expansive in their collecting habits, the Deans, both born and raised in New York, champion a philosophy of “artists supporting artists.” “Giants” refers to the renown of legendary artists, the impact of canon-expanding contemporary figures, and some of the monumental works in the collection. Work by Derrick Adams, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Titus Kaphar, and Deana Lawson is included.

Derrick Adams, Woman in Grayscale (Alicia), 2017 © Derrick Adams Studio

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Emmett Till River Bank), 1998 © Sally Mann

On View

New Symphony of Time

Opened September 7, 2019
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson
www.msmuseumart.org

New Symphony of Time expands the boundaries of Mississippi’s identity, casting light on a shared past to help reflect an expansive, more inclusive future. The exhibition aims to explore personal and collective memory, history and the connection to place, and the roles artists play in pursuit of civil rights and racial equity through ancestry. Themes include migration, movement, and home; shared humanity; environment; and liberty. Work by Titus Kaphar and Sally Mann is included.

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Emmett Till River Bank), 1998 © Sally Mann

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Press

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