When Kaphar was commissioned by Time magazine in 2014 to create Yet Another Fight for Remembrance – a painting commemorating the protests and activism coming out of Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s killing by the police – he was well on his way to wider recognition. That commission arose out of a Time editor’s trip to The Studio Museum in Harlem and the viewing of Kaphar’s The Jerome Project, a portrait-based investigation of incarceration and Kaphar’s own family history. In 2018 Kaphar won a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant and mounted a solo show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Last year he, along with artist Jonathan Brand and financier Jason Price, established NXTHVN, an innovative and entrepreneurship-focused incubator and mentorship organisation serving artists, curators and students of colour. And when Gagosian announced Kaphar’s representation in October (his paintings are currently on show at one of the gallery’s New York spaces), the artist made sure it came with an endorsement of his nonprofit.
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