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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.

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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

Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts signing copies of their book Redaction at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Reading and Book Signing

Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts
Redaction

Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 6–7pm
Gagosian Shop, New York

In celebration of their new book, Redaction, Titus Kaphar and memoirist, poet, and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts will sign copies, following a poetry reading by Betts. The volume documents the pair’s Redaction series, first presented in 2019 at MoMA PS1, New York. Bringing together poetry by Betts that draws upon redacted legal documents and Kaphar’s etched portraits of incarcerated individuals, the project exposes the ways in which the legal system exploits and erases the poor and incarcerated from public consciousness. Redaction was designed in close collaboration with Kaphar and Betts and also includes an introduction by Sarah Suzuki, associate director at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Published by W. W. Norton & Company, the book will be available for purchase at the event.

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Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts signing copies of their book Redaction at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Left: Titus Kaphar. Photo: Mario Sorrenti. Right: Reginald Dwayne Betts. Photo: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

In Conversation

Titus Kaphar
Reginald Dwayne Betts

Wednesday, March 8, 2023, 6:30pm
New York Public Library
www.nypl.org

This event has been canceled.

Titus Kaphar and memoirist, poet, and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts will speak about their joint artistic and literary project, Redaction, which confronts the abuses of the criminal justice system, as well as discuss their exploration of history, incarceration, and race in America. Redaction unites their different mediums—visual art and poetry—to expose the ways in which the legal system exploits and erases the poor and incarcerated from public consciousness. The event will also air on the New York Public Library’s YouTube channel.

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Left: Titus Kaphar. Photo: Mario Sorrenti. Right: Reginald Dwayne Betts. Photo: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Left: Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter. Right: Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christian Högstedt

In Conversation

Black Thought: Streams of Thought
With Titus Kaphar

Saturday, February 18, 2023, 7:30pm
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
www.kennedy-center.org

Titus Kaphar will speak with Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter of the Roots as part of the emcee’s Streams of Thought conversation series, in which cultural leaders share intimate discussions encompassing art, inspiration, and creative consciousness. The 2022 documentary short film Shut Up and Paint, directed by Kaphar and Alex Mallis, will also be screened during the event. The conversation series is presented by the Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture Program as part of For the Culture artist residency program and Culture Talks series.

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Left: Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter. Right: Titus Kaphar. Photo: Christian Högstedt

Installation view, Titus Kaphar: New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion, Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, March 17–May 15, 2022. Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Visit

London Gallery Weekend 2022
Damien Hirst, Cristina Iglesias, Titus Kaphar, Richard Prince

May 13–15, 2022
London
londongalleryweekend.art

As part of London Gallery Weekend, Gagosian will have extended hours at all London locations, including the Gagosian Shop in Burlington Arcade, where visitors can browse Richard Prince artist’s books, posters, and other merchandise as part of his Shop takeover. Visitors can view the exhibitions Cristina Iglesias at Davies Street, which opens on Saturday, May 14; Titus Kaphar: New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion at Grosvenor Hill, before it closes on May 15; and Damien Hirst: Natural History at Britannia Street.

A range of activities will be offered, including exhibition tours and drop-in drawing hours for visitors of all ages, in addition to treats from Connaught Patisserie and Treats ClubIn its second year, London Gallery Weekend is a free annual event featuring over 150 of the city’s leading contemporary art galleries coming together to celebrate culture and creativity.

Installation view, Titus Kaphar: New Alte̲rs: Reworking Devotion, Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, March 17–May 15, 2022. Artwork © Titus Kaphar. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

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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

Honor

Shut Up and Paint
95th Academy Awards Documentary Short Film Shortlist

Shut Up and Paint, a film directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis, is one of fifteen films—out of ninety-eight qualifiers—selected for the shortlist in the 2023 Oscars category of Documentary Short Film Shortlist, advancing to the nomination round. In the twenty-minute short, Kaphar looks to the medium of film in the face of an insatiable art market seeking to silence his activism. The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2023.

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

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

Award

Shut Up and Paint
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Shut Up and Paint, a film directed by Titus Kaphar and Alex Mallis, has won the Best Short prize at the 2022 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, a competitive event that spotlights superior works in documentary filmmaking in four award categories. In the twenty-minute short, Kaphar looks to the medium of film in the face of an insatiable art market seeking to silence his activism. Winners in the Best Short and Best Mini Doc categories qualify for Academy Award nomination in the Short Documentary category.

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

Titus Kaphar in his studio, New Haven, Connecticut, 2020. Artwork © Titus Kaphar

Award

Titus Kaphar
2020 WSJ Magazine Innovator Award

On November 11, 2020, Titus Kaphar was honored at the 2020 WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards, which has been recognizing inspiring talents from a variety of cultural pursuits for a decade. The musician and producer Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean presented the Art Innovator award to Kaphar, whose work explores the limited representation of Black people in Western painting and whose multidisciplinary arts incubator, NXTHVN, breaks the mold for nonprofit organizations. In the past the red-carpet event has been held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, but this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was filmed. To watch the ceremony, visit the WSJ Magazine’s YouTube channel

Titus Kaphar in his studio, New Haven, Connecticut, 2020. Artwork © Titus Kaphar

Left to right: Titus Kaphar, Nico Wheadon, and 2020–21 NXTHVN Fellows, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo: John Dennis, courtesy NXTHVN

Partnership

Gagosian and NXTHVN
Three New Programming and Funding Initiatives

Gagosian is pleased to announce three new initiatives in conjunction with its support of NXTHVN in New Haven, Connecticut. First, the gallery will endow the paid NXTHVN Apprenticeship Program for students from local high schools. Second, it will launch a professional development program for NXTHVN Fellows, adding to the organization’s existing education projects through discussions and studio visits with Gagosian staff. Finally, it will offer sales support to Pleading Freedom, an exhibition at the NXTHVN Gallery to raise funds for work toward racial justice.

NXTHVN is a new national arts model established by Titus Kaphar with cofounder and chairman of the board Jason Price and cofounder Jonathan Brand, which empowers artists and curators of color through education and access, mentorship and collaboration. NXTHVN connects high school students, early-career artists, and creative professionals with resources and networks vital to their success.

Left to right: Titus Kaphar, Nico Wheadon, and 2020–21 NXTHVN Fellows, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo: John Dennis, courtesy NXTHVN

Cover of June 15, 2020, issue of Time, featuring Analogous Colors (2020) by Titus Kaphar. Artwork © Titus Kaphar

Commission

Titus Kaphar
Analogous Colors

The June 15, 2020, issue of Time features Titus Kaphar’s Analogous Colors (2020) on its cover, as well as a written piece by the artist to accompany the work, titled “I cannot sell you this painting.” The painting depicts a Black mother holding her child, represented by an empty silhouette. “In her expression, I see the Black mothers who are unseen, and rendered helpless in this fury against their babies,” writes Kaphar.

The iconic red border of the cover includes the names of thirty-five Black men and women “whose deaths, in many cases by police, were the result of systemic racism and helped fuel the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement,” writes D. W. Pine, Time’s creative director. “Their names are merely a fraction of the many more who have lost their lives because of the racist violence that has been part of this nation from its start.”

The cover is available for purchase on the Time Cover Store. The proceeds from sales will benefit Black-led organizations that are committed to advancing justice.

Cover of June 15, 2020, issue of Time, featuring Analogous Colors (2020) by Titus Kaphar. Artwork © Titus Kaphar

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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

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Uncle Dope, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Michael Tropea

Closed

Black American Portraits

February 8–June 30, 2023
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta
museum.spelman.edu

Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art, guest curated by David Driskell at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976, Black American Portraits reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces. Spanning more than two centuries from circa 1800 to the present day, this selection of approximately 140 works draws primarily from LACMA’s permanent collection and chronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community, and exuberance. This exhibition has traveled from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Work by Lauren Halsey, Titus Kaphar and Nathaniel Mary Quinn is included.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Uncle Dope, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Michael Tropea

Installation view, No Justice without Love, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, April 4–June 30, 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Stanley Whitney, © Sherrill Roland. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Closed

No Justice without Love

April 4–June 30, 2023
Ford Foundation Gallery, New York
www.fordfoundation.org

No Justice without Love brings together the transformational work of artists, activists, and allied donors who make up the Art for Justice Fund community. The exhibition is an invitation to engage with the Fund’s mission to change the narrative around mass incarceration and disrupt the criminal justice system. In charting the evolution of artists’ practices, the works on show point to the ways in which artists and advocates create new aesthetics around humanity, resilience, and self-determination, while elevating themes of redemption, rehabilitation, and transformation. Work by Titus Kaphar and Stanley Whitney is included.

Installation view, No Justice without Love, Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, April 4–June 30, 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Stanley Whitney, © Sherrill Roland. Photo: Sebastian Bach

Installation view, Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, September 10, 2022–April 8, 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Titus Kaphar, © Danh Vo

Closed

Titus Kaphar in
Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth

September 10, 2022–April 8, 2023
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
weatherspoonart.org

Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth explores the use of gold leaf in contemporary works of art. The artists represented in this exhibition have turned to gilding as a means of reconsidering our value systems. Applying gold to images of graffiti and sidewalks, cardboard boxes, and architectural fragments, they ask us to honor and see the beauty in things that are so often overlooked or discarded. Gilding images of people—often those who have been disempowered or forgotten—they ask us to pay respect to our collective humanity. Work by Titus Kaphar is included.

Installation view, Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, September 10, 2022–April 8, 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Titus Kaphar, © Danh Vo

Titus Kaphar, Jerome I–V, 2014, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York © Titus Kaphar

Closed

Titus Kaphar
The Jerome Project

October 13, 2022–January 16, 2023
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
www.gardnermuseum.org

In 2011, Titus Kaphar was coming to terms with the personal history of his estranged father, Jerome. Kaphar’s search for information led to the discovery of prison records and mug shots of ninety-seven men sharing his father’s first and last name. Painted mostly between 2014 and 2015, The Jerome Project (2014–) is not only a portrait series of incarcerated men named Jerome and their absence from the US national narrative but also a pondering of whose lived experiences we consider, whose we forget, and whose we erase.

Titus Kaphar, Jerome I–V, 2014, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York © Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, My Loss, 2020 © Titus Kaphar

Closed

Titus Kaphar in
Metal of Honor: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art

October 13, 2022–January 16, 2023
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
www.gardnermuseum.org

Using a play on words, Metal of Honor explores how four artists from different times and places use gold as an artistic strategy for innovation and honor. Works by the medieval Italian artist Simone Martini are juxtaposed with those by three contemporary painters—Titus Kaphar, Stacy Lynn Waddell, and Kehinde Wiley. These artists reinterpret the style and medium of devotional imagery to explore the contemporary meaning of representation, commemoration, and adoration.

Titus Kaphar, My Loss, 2020 © Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar, Billy Lee: Portrait in Tar, 2016 © Titus Kaphar

Closed

Titus Kaphar in
Revolve: Spotlight on the Permanent Collection

March 15–November 13, 2022
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, Florida
www.cummermuseum.org

Throughout the Cummer Museum of Art’s sixty-year history, its permanent collection has grown from sixty objects to more than five thousand. This exhibition pairs works from the collection with loans from global contemporary artists working across media who explore the concepts of portraiture, landscape, cartography, allegory, and the natural world. Work by Titus Kaphar is included.

Titus Kaphar, Billy Lee: Portrait in Tar, 2016 © Titus Kaphar

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Uncle Dope, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Michael Tropea

Closed

Black American Portraits

November 7, 2021–April 17, 2022
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
www.lacma.org

Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art, guest curated by David Driskell at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976, and complementing the presentation at lacma of The Obama Portraits by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, Black American Portraits reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters, and spaces. Spanning more than two centuries from circa 1800 to the present day, this selection of approximately 140 works draws primarily from lacma’s permanent collection and chronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community, and exuberance. Work by Lauren Halsey, Titus Kaphar and Nathaniel Mary Quinn is included.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Uncle Dope, 2017 © Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Photo: Michael Tropea

Taryn Simon, Press XL, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Brooklyn Museum, New York © Taryn Simon

Closed

The Slipstream
Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time

May 14, 2021–April 10, 2022
Brooklyn Museum, New York
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Slipstream draws examples from Brooklyn Museum’s contemporary art collection to contemplate the profound disruption that occurred in 2020. Borrowing its title from an aeronautical term that refers to the pull of the current that is left in the wake of a large and powerful object, the exhibition examines the placement and displacement of power that runs through American history and continues today. The show features more than sixty works by multiple generations of artists from the 1960s to the present day, including Titus Kaphar, Rick Lowe, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, and Taryn Simon.

Taryn Simon, Press XL, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Brooklyn Museum, New York © Taryn Simon

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