Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history?
Titus Kaphar: Poate arta să modifice istoria?
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?
la Muzeul de Istorie Naturală?
is I take my kids to the museum.
este să-mi duc copiii la muzeu.
to the Natural History Museum.
la Muzeul de Istorie Naturală.
Sabian and Dabith.
Sabian și Dabith.
entrance of the museum,
din fața muzeului,
of Teddy Roosevelt out there.
a lui Teddy Roosevelt.
with one hand on the horse,
cu o mână pe cal,
cu mânecile suflecate.
but it kind of feels like it.
dar cam așa arată.
is a Native American walking.
merge un amerindian.
is an African-American walking.
merge un afro-american.
to try to explain that,
ca să încerc să-i explic
I try to do with them anyways.
încerc să fac cu ei.
would have never really asked.
că eu n-aș fi pus-o niciodată.
of such an amazing institution."
așa minunate."
to amend our public sculptures,
de a modifica sculpturile publice,
when I was born.
când m-am născut.
with his own things
is because of a woman.
a fost o femeie.
fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,
fantastică, frumoasă, deșteaptă,
about your future."
"I'm thinking about my future now."
„Acum mă gândesc la viitorul meu."
to the junior college
la școală
to what I was registering to.
la un curs de istoria artei
about art history.
when I went into that class.
când m-am dus la acel curs.
în cariera mea academică,
and say, "Who's that?"
și a zis: „Cine este aici?"
Clearly that is Van Gogh.
Sigur e Van Gogh.
I wasn't a great student. OK?
că nu eram un elev bun. OK?
that I was able to learn things visually
că eram capabil să învăț vizual
this became my tactic
a devenit tactica mea
Things were going well.
Lucrurile mergeau bine.
these art history classes.
cursul de istoria artei.
I will not forget, I will never forget.
n-o voi uita, n-o voi uita niciodată.
art history classes.
de istoria artei.
survey art history classes,
de istoria artei,
the entire history of art
and Jackson Pollock
și Jackson Pollock,
but they try anyway.
was about a 14-page section
era o secțiune de vreo 14 pagini
of black people in painting
let's just put it that way.
the other classes that I had,
pe care le-am avut,
to go over that particular chapter,
să parcurgem acel capitol,
to go through it."
să-l parcurgem."
hold on, professor, professor.
doamna profesoară, stați un pic.
important chapter to me.
foarte important pentru mine.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
that this is significant.
că este semnificativ.
because we need to talk."
out of her office.
"I can't force her to teach anything."
„Nu o pot forța să vă învețe nimic."
if I wanted to understand this history,
că dacă vreau să înțeleg această istorie,
of those folks who had to walk,
acestor tipi care merg pe jos,
to have to figure that out myself.
să-mi dau seama singur.
and looking at images like this.
și uitându-mă la imagini ca aceasta.
some slight differences in the painting.
câteva mici diferențe în tablou.
that I had been absorbing
pe care o absorbisem
that painting is a language.
ca pictura este un limbaj.
in the composition here.
din această compoziție.
this gold necklace here.
acest colier de aur aici.
about the economic status
despre statutul economic
of the compositional structure,
structurii compoziției,
that they have quite a bit of money.
că ei au ceva bani.
this other character here.
acest personaj de aici.
in research on these kinds of paintings,
cercetând acest tip de tablouri,
in this painting --
din acest tablou --
than I can about this character here,
decât despre acest personaj de aici,
just put inside of this paint
că tocmai l-am pus în tablou
of sculptures at museums?
de sculpturi din muzee?
of these kinds of paintings
acestui tip de picturi
din societate,
of themselves all the time?
ale lor tot timpul?
you actually had to focus. Right?
trebuia să focusezi. Corect?
a little to the right,
un pic la dreapta,
in the background would come out.
iar cei din spate treceau în față.
the struggles of our past
cu luptele din trecutul nostru
and the advances of our present.
și progresului nostru din prezent.
and getting rid of stuff.
de șters ca să scăpăm de lucruri.
do it in the same way
a law in the American Constitution,
din Constituția Americană,
but this is where we are right now."
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