Installation video
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork, left and right: © Titus Kaphar; center: © 2022 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Installation view
Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Titus Kaphar
New E̲nunciation, 2021
Oil on canvas with vinyl, 71 ½ × 77 ¼ × 2 ¼ inches (181.6 × 196.2 × 5.7 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever
Titus Kaphar
Topography and Desire, 2022
Oil on canvas, vinyl, and pins, in wood frame, 65 ¾ × 49 ⅞ × 11 ⅞ inches (167 × 126.5 × 30 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Titus Kaphar
The Eye of Providence, 2022
Oil on canvas, vinyl, and wood, 94 × 67 ¼ × 2 ¾ inches (238.8 × 170.8 × 7 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Titus Kaphar
An Illusion of Progress, 2022
Oil on canvas, vinyl, and wood, in enamel frame with velvet, 78 ½ × 65 ½ × 9 ⅜ inches (199.4 × 166.4 × 24 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Titus Kaphar
Nothing to See Here, 2021
Oil on canvas, vinyl, wood, and rope, 78 ¾ × 65 ⅞ × 7 ⅞ inches (200 × 167.5 × 20 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Titus Kaphar
Doubt III, 2022
Wax with tar and gold enamel and oil on canvas, 56 ⅜ × 34 ¼ × 33 ⅞ inches (143 × 87 × 86 cm)
© Titus Kaphar.
Titus Kaphar
Shroud of Washington, 2021
Concrete, oil on canvas, and gold leaf, 59 ½ × 21 ¼ × 17 ⅜ inches (151 × 54 × 45 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Rob McKeever
Titus Kaphar
Sindon, 2022
Wood with oil on canvas, on cinder blocks, 75 ⅝ × 32 ⅞ × 20 ¼ inches (192 × 83.5 × 51.5 cm)
© Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Gagosian is pleased to present New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Titus Kaphar. Held at the gallery’s Grosvenor Hill location, it marks the artist’s first exhibition in London. COLONELGARGLE (2008), a steel sculpture by John Chamberlain, is also included, establishing a visual dialogue with Kaphar’s work.
In paintings, sculptures, and installations, Kaphar examines the history of representation by altering the work’s supports. In doing so, he reveals oft unspoken social and political truths, dislodging history from its status as “past” to underscore its contemporary relevance. New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion stresses the heterogeneity of Kaphar’s process by incorporating all the techniques he has employed to date into a single presentation that emphasizes the images’ surreality and strangeness. It is characterized by a layering of imagery and form, and by a strategic disregard for the consistency of ground and space. Shifts in scale turn some figures into miniatures and others into giants, while the use of gilded frames hints at a dedication to something beyond the physical.
What, asks Kaphar, might it mean to produce a contemporary devotional structure within a secular art world—especially in the context of a European art historical tradition dominated by religious imagery and architecture—and what parallels might be drawn between artistic and spiritual practices? Further, what are the implications of resurrecting characters from the past and inserting them into environments and situations that would be unrecognizable to them? By incorporating painted black-and-white reproductions of American Civil War–era daguerreotypes into several paintings here, Kaphar recalls a period that was critical for defining freedom in the United States.
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.
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 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.
Jamillah Hinson and Marissa Del Toro, recent curatorial fellows of Titus Kaphar’s nonprofit community arts hub NXTHVN, address their curatorial praxes.
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.
Join the artist in his studio in New Haven, Connecticut, where he speaks about his latest paintings.
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 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–).
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.
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.
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.
