Tag: visual artists

Titus Kaphar is a painter and sculptor, best known for his TIME Magazine portrait of Ferguson protestors, and for The Jerome Project, in which he explores the volume of black men trapped in the criminal justice system. In Kaphar’s TED Talk (released today), he applies an on-the-spot amendment to a classic painting, revealing a slave’s hidden story that would otherwise go overlooked. Kaphar received an immediate standing ovation.

In his work as a fine artist, Titus Kaphar aims to correct the representation of African Americans – often obscured – by highlighting racial injustice with paint and other tactile media. In essence, he creates two works of art: one that shows the original through new eyes, and a second, original piece that acts alongside it. 
 

To book speaker Titus Kaphar, contact the Lavin Agency today, his exclusive speaker’s bureau.

“Painting is a visual language where everything is meaningful, important, and coded,” says new speaker Titus Kaphar in his TED Talk, which brought the Vancouver audience to its feet. How can we amend our visual intelligence? With no small amount of dynamism, Kaphar shows how we can acknowledge our past, while changing the gaze historically applied to it. 

“Because of compositional hierarchy, it’s hard to see other things,” says painter and sculptor Titus Kaphar, standing before his (mostly) faithful copy of Frans Hals’ 17th-century painting of an affluent Dutch family. As reported on the TED blog, “[Explaining] key features of the painting—the exaggerated height of the father, the outsize gold necklace on the mother and the lace on her gown—he gestures with a brush loaded with white paint, obscuring parts of his own art as he brings the hidden story of the painting into view. By repainting his own painting, Kaphar makes real the idea of amending our shared history—rather than ignoring or eradicating it, he suggests we shift our focus and confront what these images represent.”

To book Titus Kaphar for your next event, contact the Lavin Agency today. 

Candy Chang’s participatory art installations, including the wildly popular “Before I Die,” (called “one of the most creative community projects ever” by The Atlantic) are now on display at the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece. Her works, which began their Athens run with “School of the Future” in February and March, will remain viewable until July 20. Chang’s art engages communities on a deeply personal level, and in her keynotes, she invites personal reflection and inspires novel ideas for more meaningful community and greater well-being.

“School of the Future,” which wrapped up its time in Athens on March 6, reimagines the classroom as a single walkway surrounded by giant red balloons, at the end of which sits an antique schooldesk. There, visitors are encouraged to write down something learned in life that they wish they’d been taught in school, and in so doing, become equal parts teacher and learner.

In “Before I Die” (June 30 – July 20), participants complete a simple but meaningful exercise. On a wall-sized chalkboard, the phrase “Before I die I want to…” is stenciled 80 times, giving passersby the courage to commit their lives’ ambitions to writing while remaining anonymous. To date, there are more than 1,000 “Before I Die” walls in more than 70 countries—proof of the project’s resonance, practicality, and striking visual appeal.

To hire Candy Chang for a keynote on transforming cities through art and design, or on fostering creativity and innovation in unlikely places, contact The Lavin Agency, her exclusive speakers bureau.