Titus Kaphar: Difference between revisions

''The Vesper Project'' is one of Kaphar's most immersive installations. It concerns a fictional African-American family in the 19th century that [[Passing (racial identity)|passes for white]]. Kaphar created an installation where visitors would walk through a 19th-century house, uncertain about what was reality and what was remembrance. The project was inspired by Kaphar's attempt to paint a portrait of his aunt, only to realize that parts of his memories of her were fictive. He spoke about the experience while promoting his show: "It occurred to me that, for some reason, my brain had decided to insert her into periods in my life when I needed extra support. That left me reeling; it left me frightened. It made me feel as if I couldn’t trust my own memory. I felt like I was losing my mind."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/titus-kaphar-on-the-vesper-project-friedman-benda_n_2679287.html|title=Artist Titus Kaphar Talks Memory And Madness In His Latest Installation, 'The Vesper Project' (INTERVIEW, PHOTOS)|last=Frank|first=Priscilla|date=2013-02-17|work=Huffington Post|access-date=2018-03-03|language=en-US}}</ref>

''The Vesper Project'' was also a collaboration with a visitor to the Yale Art Gallery, where one of Kaphar's paintings was displayed. The visitor, Benjamin Vesper, experienced a mental breakdown during his visit and punched one of Kaphar’sKaphar's paintings. During Vesper's subsequent institutionalization,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.craveonline.com/art/1173477-american-artist-titus-kaphar-explore-race-identity-memory-vesper-project|title=Exhibit {{!}} Titus Kaphar: The Vesper Project - Crave Online|date=2016-12-02|work=CraveOnline|access-date=2018-03-03|language=en-US}}</ref> Kaphar and Vesper began a correspondence. The two exchanged letters for some time, writing about family and mental instability. Vesper broke out of the hospital and visited a 19th-century house, believing it was his family's home. Kaphar intended to create a physical space for Vesper to return and face his memories, and this became the foundation of ''The Vesper Project''. The rooms contain fragments of memories, specters, and paintings. These rooms are able to be walked through and experienced.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://kapharstudio.com/the-vesper-project/|title=The Vesper Project - TITUS KAPHAR|last=generator|first=metatags|work=TITUS KAPHAR|access-date=2017-12-07|language=en-US}}</ref>

Kaphar was commissioned in 2014 by [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] to paint a response to the [[Ferguson unrest|Ferguson Uprising]]. The work was a 4&nbsp;ft x 5&nbsp;ft oil on canvas and used Kaphar's signature style of painting over his own work with white paint. The painting is titled ''Yet Another Fight for Remembrance'' and depicts two protesters with their hands raised with white paint streaked over their bodies and faces.<ref>{{cite web |title=Titus Kaphar on Putting Black Figures Back Into Art History and His Solution for the Problem of Confederate Monuments |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/titus-kaphar-erasure-art-history-1497391 |website=Artnet News |access-date=18 February 2021 |date=27 March 2019}}</ref>

In 2014, Kaphar painted ''Behind the Myth of Benevolence'', which depicts [[President of the United States|President]] [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Sally Hemings]], aan enslaved woman slaveheld ownedcaptive by Jefferson and the mother of six children fathered by Jefferson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.culturedmag.com/titus-kaphar-artist-of-the-times-paints-with-eyes-open/|title =TITUS KAPHAR, ARTIST OF THE TIMES, PAINTS WITH EYES OPEN|date=23 September 2020|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=Cultured Magazine|author=Jacob Urist}}</ref><ref name="stockman">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/sally-hemings-exhibit-monticello.html |title=Monticello Is Done Avoiding Jefferson's Relationship With Sally Hemings |last=Stockman |first=Farah |date=16 June 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2020-10-02 |language=en}}</ref> Kaphar painted the canvas in such a way as to create the illusion that the portrait of Jefferson painted by [[Rembrandt Peale]] in 1800 is being pulled back like a curtain to reveal a seated Hemings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654476095/meet-the-macarthur-fellow-disrupting-racism-in-art|title=Meet The MacArthur Fellow Disrupting Racism In Art|date=4 October 2018|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=NPR|author=Mary Louise Kelly}}</ref> The portrait is effectively a painting within a painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wnpr.org/post/painting-new-haven-artist-makes-cover-time-magazine|title=Painting By New Haven Artist Makes Cover Of Time Magazine|date=11 June 2020|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=WNPR|author=Ray Hardman}}</ref> Kaphar, speaking about the painting and its subject, Sally Hemings, said, "This painting is about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, and yet it is not. The reason I say, ‘And yet it is not,’ is because we know from the actual history that Sally Hemings was very fair. Very, very fair. The woman who sits here is not just simply a representation of Sally Hemings, she’sshe's more of a symbol of many of the Black women whose stories have been shrouded by the narratives of our deified founding fathers."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.culturetype.com/2018/03/28/titus-kaphar-and-ken-gonzales-day-explore-unseen-narratives-in-historic-portraiture-in-new-national-portrait-gallery-exhibition/|title=National Portrait Gallery: Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day Explore 'UnSeen' Narratives in Historic Portraitur|date=28 March 2018|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=Culturetype|author=Victoria L. Valentine}}</ref>

''Behind the Myth of Benevolence'' was damaged on three separate occasions while it was on view at the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], prompting the museum to post security guards by the painting for the remainder of its exhibition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/sep/27/rebel-us-artist-puts-black-lives-in-the-renaissance-frame|title=Rebel US artist puts black lives in the Renaissance frame|date=27 September 2020|accessdate=2 October 2020|work=The Guardian|author=Daniel Boffey}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/two-artists-search-missing-history-180968651/|title=Two Artists in Search of Missing History|date=4 April 2018|accessdate=2 October 2020|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|author=Alicia Ault}}</ref>

* 2001- [[California Arts Council]] Grantee

* 2004- Belle Arts Foundation Grantee

* 2006- The [[Studio Museum in Harlem]]

* 2009- [[Seattle Art Museum]]

* 2015- [[Creative Capital]] Award

* 2018- [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur "Genius" Grant]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/arts/macarthur-genius-grant-winners-list.html|title=MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners for 2018: The Full List|work=The New York Times |date=4 October 2018 |access-date=2018-10-05|language=en |last1=Deb |first1=Sopan }}</ref>

* {{cite web|url=https://www.ted.com/talks/titus_kaphar_can_art_amend_history |title=Can art amend history? |date=August 2017 |publisher=TED}}