Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history?
تایتس کفر: آیا هنر میتواند تاریخ را اصلاح کند؟
Titus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to the Natural History Museum?
is I take my kids to the museum.
این است که بچههایم را به موزه ببرم.
to the Natural History Museum.
Sabian and Dabith.
entrance of the museum,
of Teddy Roosevelt out there.
with one hand on the horse,
but it kind of feels like it.
ولی بهش میآید که باشد.
is a Native American walking.
is an African-American walking.
to try to explain that,
I try to do with them anyways.
این کار را با آنها انجام دهم.
would have never really asked.
برای من اصلا پیش نمیآمد
of such an amazing institution."
to amend our public sculptures,
when I was born.
with his own things
is because of a woman.
هنر قرار داد، یک زن بود.
fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,
زیبا و باهوشی بود
about your future."
"I'm thinking about my future now."
حسابی به آیندهام فکر میکنم."
بهتر از اینها هم بود.
to the junior college
to what I was registering to.
about art history.
when I went into that class.
رفتم، اتفاق عجیبی افتاد.
and say, "Who's that?"
داشت و میگفت: این چیست؟
Clearly that is Van Gogh.
I wasn't a great student. OK?
که دانشآموز خوبی نبودم، خب؟
that I was able to learn things visually
به صورت دیداری یاد بگیرم،
روشهای دیگر بیاموزم،
this became my tactic
Things were going well.
همه چیز عالی پیش میرفت.
these art history classes.
تاریخ هنر را ادامه بده.
I will not forget, I will never forget.
هیچ وقت فراموش نمیکنم. هیچ وقت.
art history classes.
survey art history classes,
تاریخ هنر داشته
the entire history of art
and Jackson Pollock
غارها و جکسن پالاک
but they try anyway.
حال این کار را میکنند.
was about a 14-page section
یک بخش ۱۴ صفحهای
of black people in painting
let's just put it that way.
این گونه بگویم.
the other classes that I had,
to go over that particular chapter,
آن قسمت خاص را بخوانیم،
to go through it."
hold on, professor, professor.
important chapter to me.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
میخواهم بفهمم.
that this is significant.
because we need to talk."
واقعا باید حرف بزنیم."
out of her office.
"I can't force her to teach anything."
هیچ مطلبی نمیتوانم مجبورش کنم."
if I wanted to understand this history,
میخواهم این تاریخ را بفهمم،
of those folks who had to walk,
که پیاده میآمدند را بفهمم،
to have to figure that out myself.
and looking at images like this.
به خودم نقاشی یاد دادم.
some slight differences in the painting.
در این نقاشی وجود دارند.
that I had been absorbing
that painting is a language.
in the composition here.
اینجا به کار برده.
this gold necklace here.
را اینجا نشان میدهد.
about the economic status
مالی این افرادی که
of the compositional structure,
that they have quite a bit of money.
بگوید که وضع مالیشان خوب است.
this other character here.
in research on these kinds of paintings,
تحقیق برای این نوع نقاشی ها،
تنِ این زن در این نقاشی
in this painting --
than I can about this character here,
که میشود از این شخصیت اینجا کسب کرد.
just put inside of this paint
که این چهرهها
of sculptures at museums?
of these kinds of paintings
of themselves all the time?
خودشان میبینند چیست؟
you actually had to focus. Right?
فکوس میکردید. درست است؟
a little to the right,
in the background would come out.
توی پس زمینه واضحتر میشدند.
the struggles of our past
and the advances of our present.
حال حاضرمان صحبت کنند و
and getting rid of stuff.
از بین بردن چیزهایی، این کار را کرد.
do it in the same way
a law in the American Constitution,
در قانون اساسی آمریکا تغییر دهیم،
but this is where we are right now."
ولی الان اینجا هستیم."
understand a little bit
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Titus Kaphar - ArtistTitus Kaphar's artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums.
Why you should listen
As Titus Kaphar says of his work: "I’ve always been fascinated by history: art history, American history, world history, individual history -- how history is written, recorded, distorted, exploited, reimagined and understood. In my work I explore the materiality of reconstructive history. I paint and I sculpt, often borrowing from the historical canon, and then alter the work in some way. I cut, crumple, shroud, shred, stitch, tar, twist, bind, erase, break, tear and turn the paintings and sculptures I create, reconfiguring them into works that nod to hidden narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history."
Kaphar is founder/CEO of the NXTHVN, a multidisciplinary arts incubator that's being built to train professional artists and to further establish New Haven's growing creative community. His latest works are an investigation into the highest and lowest forms of recording history. From monuments to mug shots, this body of work exhibited at Jack Shainman gallery December-January 2017 seeks to collapse the line of American history to inhabit a fixed point in the present. Historical portraiture, mug shots, and YouTube stills challenge viewers to consider how we document the past, and what we have erased. Rather than explore guilt or innocence, Kaphar engages the narratives of individuals and how we as a society manage and define them over time. As a whole, this exhibition explores the power of rewritten histories to question the presumption of innocence and the mythology of the heroic.
Titus Kaphar | Speaker | TED.com