Titus Kaphar — Artist Biographical Backgrounds

Titus Kaphar is an artist from Kalamazoo, Michigan who transforms representational art with cuts, tears, crumples, twists, and more in order to reveal overlooked legacies of slavery and colonialism, especially in the history of painting and portraiture.

BIOGRAPHY:

• Born in 1976 ni Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Earned BFA from San Jose State University in 2001 and an MFA from Yale School of Art in 2005
• Has won many awards, including a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship and a 2015 Creative Capital Award, and
  grants from the California Arts Council and Belle Arts Foundation
• Currently lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut
• Created NXTHVN, a national arts collective to empower
  emerging artists and art professionals of color based in
  New Haven, Connecticut
• Often reveals the structure behind a painting, such as the walls, inside canvas, or stretcher bars, to draw attention to the absences and supports that are often invisible
• Fascinated with the history of portraiture and its connection to historical memory
• Likes to use art as a means of social engagement, education and activism

“I want to make paintings, I want to make sculptures that are honest, that wrestle with the struggles of our past but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present. And we can’t do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff.”

Watch Artist Talk Here