New York City-based artist Titus Kaphar combines the mediums of painting, sculpture and collage to shed a new light on themes of race, power and injustice depicted in Classic and Renaissance paintings.
Hailing from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Kaphar followed his fascination with history and art to rewrite history in his works, using a variety of techniques to distort the symbols and meanings originally connected to Renaissance paintings. Speaking of the intention behind his artistic practice, Kaphar states, “Open areas become active absences, walls enter into the portraits, stretcher bars are exposed, and structures that are typically invisible underneath, behind, or inside the canvas are laid bare, revealing the interiors of the work. In so doing, my aim is to perform what I critique, to reveal something of what has been lost, and to investigate the power of a rewritten history.”
