Titus Kaphar's "The Jerome Project" at The Studio Museum In Harlem

The contemporary artist Titus Kaphar searched for his father’s prison records in 2011. On the web, Titus found arrest photographs of dozens who shared his father’s name. 

Horrified and spurred to artistic action, Titus created a series of paintings which comment on the United States' biased prison-industrial complex. The recent events spanning the US from Ferguson, Missouri, to Los Angeles, California, to New York City point out the inherent prejudices in the policing and imprisonment culture current in the United States. 

Titus created portraits of men who shared his father's name.

Echoing the loss of voice inherent in those imprisoned, Titus dips his paintings into hot tar - rendering his subjects mute.  

Titus Kaphar

Jerome I, 2014

Oil, gold leaf and tar on wood panel

7 × 10 ½ in.

Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

©Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar

Jerome III, 2014

Oil, gold leaf and tar on wood panel

7 × 10 ½ in.

Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

©Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar

Jerome IV, 2014

Oil, gold leaf and tar on wood panel

7 × 10 ½ in.

Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

©Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar

Jerome V, 2014

Oil, gold leaf and tar on wood panel

7 × 10 ½ in.

Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

©Titus Kaphar