Titus Kaphar: From a Tropical Space

Titus Kaphar’s “From a Tropical Space” at Gagosian features the artist’s latest series of oil paintings, which depict vibrantly surreal scenes pertaining to current times. The large-scale works include creations like The distance between what we have and what we want and the exhibition’s title painting, both featuring images of Black mothers going about daily tasks (like waiting for the bus or walking down the street) with haunting cutouts where their children should be. Combining techniques like cutting, erasing, and shredding with mediums like painting, sculpture, and installation, Kaphar utilizes his practice to reexamine visual representation in Western art and rewrite disputed histories through a lens of cultural empowerment.