Titus Kaphar: Can art amend history?
Тайтус Кафар: Может ли искусство исправить историю?
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.
в Американском музее естественной истории?
to the Natural History Museum?
is I take my kids to the museum.
to the Natural History Museum.
в Музей естественной истории.
Sabian and Dabith.
Сабиан и Дэбиф.
entrance of the museum,
of Teddy Roosevelt out there.
Тедди Рузвельта.
with one hand on the horse,
держа одной рукой своего коня,
but it kind of feels like it.
но такое впечатление, что да.
is a Native American walking.
is an African-American walking.
что он верхом на коне,
to try to explain that,
исторических событий,
I try to do with them anyways.
would have never really asked.
никогда бы не задал.
of such an amazing institution."
таким прекрасным заведением?»
to amend our public sculptures,
наши общественные скульптуры,
when I was born.
with his own things
собственными проблемами
is because of a woman.
только из-за женщины.
fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,
фантастической, красивой, умной женщины
about your future."
"I'm thinking about my future now."
«Вот, теперь я думаю о своём будущем».
to the junior college
to what I was registering to.
на какие именно курсы я записался.
по истории искусств,
about art history.
when I went into that class.
когда я пришёл на занятия.
and say, "Who's that?"
и спрашивал: «Кто это?»
Clearly that is Van Gogh.
Очевидно, что это Ван Гог.
I wasn't a great student. OK?
не очень-то хорошим студентом.
мой средний балл был 0,65 [из 4,0].
было для меня огромным,
that I was able to learn things visually
запоминать визуально то,
не получалось.
this became my tactic
это стало моей тактикой,
Things were going well.
У нас всё было хорошо.
these art history classes.
на курсы по истории искусств.
I will not forget, I will never forget.
я не забуду, никогда не забуду.
art history classes.
истории искусств.
survey art history classes,
курсы истории искусств,
the entire history of art
всю историю искусств
and Jackson Pollock
и Джексоне Поллоке,
друг с другом.
but they try anyway.
но их всё равно предлагают.
was about a 14-page section
было примерно 14 страниц
of black people in painting
в живописи
которые сами занимались живописью.
let's just put it that way.
довольно плохой.
the other classes that I had,
других курсах, которые я изучал,
to go over that particular chapter,
проходить эту конкретную главу,
to go through it."
на её обсуждение».
hold on, professor, professor.
профессор, профессор.
important chapter to me.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
извините, извините,
that this is significant.
Я правда извиняюсь.
because we need to talk."
Нам правда надо поговорить».
out of her office.
"I can't force her to teach anything."
«Я не могу заставить её преподавать».
if I wanted to understand this history,
что если я хочу понять историю,
of those folks who had to walk,
кому приходилось идти пешком,
to have to figure that out myself.
разбираться в этом самому.
and looking at images like this.
и рассматривая подобные картины.
some slight differences in the painting.
отличия на моей картине.
that I had been absorbing
that painting is a language.
что живопись — это язык.
in the composition here.
самый высокий в композиции.
this gold necklace here.
золотое ожерелье.
about the economic status
о социально-экономическом
of the compositional structure,
that they have quite a bit of money.
что у них довольно много денег.
this other character here.
которого мы тут имеем.
in research on these kinds of paintings,
о такого рода картинах
in this painting --
than I can about this character here,
чем вот об этом персонаже,
just put inside of this paint
наложил на эту картину, —
свой взгляд совсем немного,
приходится идти пешком?
of sculptures at museums?
скульптур в музеях,
of these kinds of paintings
of themselves all the time?
изображения самих себя?»
приходилось их фокусировать.
you actually had to focus. Right?
a little to the right,
немного вправо,
in the background would come out.
сзади вышли бы вперёд.
the struggles of our past
со сложностями нашего прошлого,
and the advances of our present.
и достижениях нашего настоящего.
and getting rid of stuff.
просто взяв ластик и всё стерев.
do it in the same way
делать это по примеру
a law in the American Constitution,
закон в Конституции,
but this is where we are right now."
так сделать,
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