Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar was born in 1976 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Passionate about art from a young age, he decided to pursue it academically, enrolling at San Jose State University and later Yale University. He currently lives and works between New York and Connecticut.

Kaphar's work is multidimensional and sculptural. His pieces are often cut, folded, and manipulated, blending classical and Renaissance art with contemporary innovations, resulting in a unique and original style. He plays with images to create imaginative narratives that blur the lines between fiction and reality. Kaphar reworks layers of history, remixing traditional portraiture styles to include the subtle presence of historically marginalized figures. His paintings frequently address the theme of slavery, a deeply personal subject for the African-American artist.

Within the Giuseppe Iannaccone Collection is the work Unsure Footing: Unfolding the Myth of Power, where the subject, seemingly drawn from a classic painting, is cut out and repositioned in a secondary, peripheral part of the composition, leaving a large blank space. Through this act, the piece becomes ironic, highlighting the formal composure of the now-fallen knight, whose grandeur is subtly undermined.