Titus Kaphar: Ascension
Overview
The Museum and PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow are collaborating with Titus Kaphar on an expansive exhibition that brings together multiple facets of Kaphar’s creative practice in dynamic, unexpected ways. A newly commissioned film, paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and sonic art will animate spaces across PAM’s campus, revealing a more experimental and poetic dimension of the powerful storytelling at the core of Kaphar’s work.
Ascension marks Kaphar’s most expansive exploration of spirituality to date. Where much of his work has examined the histories we inherit and who has been erased from them, Ascension turns toward what carries us beyond them. Imagining the Museum’s galleries as devotional spaces, Kaphar asks: where do we turn for transcendence today? The exhibition invites us to slow our pace and allow our senses to transport us to a place of deeper connection across cultural experiences. The works on view reflect shared rituals of preparation and transformation that can be found in religious, artistic, and athletic practices.
Ascension begins in the Blair Family Gallery (Gallery 001). Here visitors encounter an environment devoted to the potential for transcendence that arises when we gather together in search of the otherworldly. Driven by Kaphar’s interest in multisensory encounters, a combination of film, light, and sound transforms the gallery and the works within it, including a new monumental sculpture and never-before-exhibited watercolors. Conceived as an experimental space that offers insight into Kaphar’s creative process, the gallery brings together works spanning different periods of his career, including new works with a looser, more expressive approach to his subjects.
From the Blair Family Gallery, visitors ascend to the Crumpacker Center (Gallery M04). Here, Kaphar calls us into a space reminiscent of sacred architecture where art is set apart for prayerful contemplation. Two series of paintings, rendered in the style of the High Renaissance and embellished with gold leaf, reflect on the elevation of celebrated athletes. Carved wooden sculptures take on the divine roles of saints and angels, and panels from the artist’s earlier Jerome series are cast in a new light as a chorus that bears witness to the power of transformation.
Embracing art, film, and immersive spatial design, Titus Kaphar: Ascension places us in relationship to the human desire to witness mystery and find meaning through the transcendent experiences that draw us together. The curatorial and programmatic collaboration between PAM and PAM CUT will take the exhibition into the community through events at the museum and the Tomorrow Theater.
Titus Kaphar: Ascension is curated by Amy Dotson, Director of PAM CUT and Curator of Film and New Media, and Sara Krajewski, Eichholz Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Acknowledgements
Presented by KHR McNeely Family Foundation, with additional support by INDUSTRY, 1803 Fund, and PAM’s Black Art & Experiences Endowment.
All exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum are supported by the Exhibition Series Fund, presented by Mary and Tim Boyle, with lead support from William G. Gilmore Foundation, Mary and Pete Mark Family Foundation, Meier Family Fund, Barbara and Phil Silver in honor of Cyndy Maletis, and Anonymous; and major support from Pat and Trudy Ritz and Darci and Charlie Swindells.
