Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history?
טיטוס קאפר: האם אומנות יכולה לתקן את ההיסטוריה?
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.
הוא לקחת את הילדים שלי למוזיאון.
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.
אבל זה קצת מרגיש ככה.
is a Native American walking.
is an African-American walking.
to try to explain that,
כדי לנסות ולהסביר את זה,
I try to do with them anyways.
מנסה לעשות איתם.
would have never really asked.
מעולם לא הייתי שואל.
of such an amazing institution."
to amend our public sculptures,
לתקן את הפסלים הציבוריים שלנו,
when I was born.
with his own things
is because of a woman.
זה בגלל אשה.
fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,
about your future."
"I'm thinking about my future now."
"אני חושב על העתיד שלי עכשיו."
to the junior college
רצתי להירשם למכללה
to what I was registering to.
about art history.
when I went into that class.
את האינטיליגנציה הויזואלית שלי.
and say, "Who's that?"
ושאל: "מי זה?"
Clearly that is Van Gogh.
ברור שזה ואן גוך
I wasn't a great student. OK?
שלא הייתי התלמיד הכי מצטיין, טוב?
(שווה ערך ל30)
that I was able to learn things visually
ללמוד דברים בצורה ויזואלית
this became my tactic
זו הפכה להיות הטקטיקה שלי
Things were going well.
הדברים הלכו בצורה מצויינת.
these art history classes.
בקורסים של היסטוריה של האומנות.
I will not forget, I will never forget.
אני לא אשכח, אני אף פעם לא אשכח.
art history classes.
survey art history classes,
את אחד מקורסי הסיקור האלה,
the entire history of art
את כל ההיסטוריה של האומנות
and Jackson Pollock
וג'קסון פולוק
but they try anyway.
אבל הם מנסים את זה בכל מקרה.
was about a 14-page section
היה פרק של 14 עמודים
of black people in painting
let's just put it that way.
בואו נגיד ככה.
the other classes that I had,
to go over that particular chapter,
על הפרק הספציפי הזה,
to go through it."
hold on, professor, professor.
important chapter to me.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
that this is significant.
because we need to talk."
כי אנחנו צריכים לדבר."
out of her office.
"I can't force her to teach anything."
"אני לא יכול להכריח אותה ללמד שום דבר."
if I wanted to understand this history,
שאם אני רוצה להבין את ההיסטוריה הזו,
of those folks who had to walk,
של האנשים האלו שהיו חייבים ללכת,
to have to figure that out myself.
and looking at images like this.
וצפייה בתמונות כאלו.
some slight differences in the painting.
that I had been absorbing
that painting is a language.
in the composition here.
this gold necklace here.
about the economic status
of the compositional structure,
that they have quite a bit of money.
שגם יש להם לא מעט כסף.
this other character here.
in research on these kinds of paintings,
במחקר על ציורים מסוג זה,
in this painting --
than I can about this character here,
משאני יכול למצוא על הדמות הזו כאן,
just put inside of this paint
בתוך הצבע הזה
of sculptures at museums?
of these kinds of paintings
of themselves all the time?
של עצמם כל הזמן?
you actually had to focus. Right?
והייתם צריכים באמת למקד את הפוקוס, נכון?
a little to the right,
in the background would come out.
והחברה ברקע היו מתקדמים לפנים.
the struggles of our past
and the advances of our present.
and getting rid of stuff.
בכך שניקח מחק, וניפטר מדברים.
do it in the same way
a law in the American Constitution,
but this is where we are right now."
וכאן זה איפה שאנחנו עכשיו"
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