Left to right: Titus Kaphar, Nico Wheadon, and 2020–21 NXTHVN Fellows, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo: John Dennis, courtesy NXTHVN
Gagosian is supporting NXTHVN with three new initiatives. The gallery will endow the NXTHVN Apprenticeship Program; launch a professional development program for NXTHVN Fellows, featuring roundtable discussions and studio visits with Gagosian staff; and offer sales support to Pleading Freedom, a fundraising exhibition at the NXTHVN Gallery in New Haven.
NXTHVN is a new national arts model established by Titus Kaphar with cofounder and chairman of the board Jason Price and cofounder Jonathan Brand, which empowers artists and curators of color through education and access. Its unique curriculum emphasizes intergenerational mentorship, professional development, and cross-sector collaboration. NXTHVN connects students from local high schools, early-career artists, and creative professionals with the resources and networks that are vital to their success.
Gagosian Endowment of NXTHVN Apprenticeship Program
As the lead supporter of the NXTHVN Apprenticeship Program’s upcoming year, Gagosian believes passionately in the program’s mission, and is committed to its long-term funding both in New Haven and as it expands into other cities throughout the country.
The Apprenticeship Program is an integral part of NXTHVN’s mission to provide members of its local community with paid jobs in the arts. In its second year, the paid program currently recruits four to six students from New Haven high schools with predominantly African American and Latinx student bodies. Each Apprentice is introduced to the unique art practice of a designated Studio Fellow, and works closely with them. Apprentices participate in workshops and seminars highlighting job readiness and college portfolio development, and collaborate with Curatorial Fellows and NXTHVN staff to assist in the planning, production, and installation of an end-of-year Fellows exhibition in the NXTHVN gallery.
Kaphar, NXTHVN’s cofounder and president, who is represented by Gagosian, established the Apprenticeship Program with the goal of inspiring and assisting participants by providing them with access to innovative training in a time of diminished investment in arts education. “It’s only through creativity and imagination,” he states, “that we will redefine the future.”
Professional Development Program
A new professional development program organized with Gagosian will function in concert with NXTHVN’s own education initiatives. NXTHVN’s existing curriculum features bimonthly workshops led by visiting artists, curators, scholars, and practitioners, which focus on elements of professional practice including strategic planning, public speaking, and grant writing. The program developed with Gagosian will connect NXTHVN’s 2020 Fellows with gallery directors through virtual studio visits and invite them to participate in a series of roundtable discussions featuring employees from various departments. These presentations will also address practical topics for artists, including social media strategy and digital asset management. Studio visits will offer an opportunity to explore contexts and historical precedents for each artist’s practice, and discuss relevant living artists and galleries. These visits will be led by Gagosian directors based in New York and London, including Mark Francis, Louise Neri, Sam Orlofsky, and Ashley Stewart. The roundtable discussions will be conducted in three sessions. Session One will focus on topics in publishing and marketing, including social media strategy, website construction, and copyright law. Speakers will include Wyatt Allgeier, Darlina Goldak, Alison McDonald, and Olivia Mull. Session Two will concentrate on logistics, including digital asset management and inventory systems, presentation and installation, and consignments and loans. Speakers will include Martha Blakey, Kathy Paciello, Gabriela Scopazzi, Allison Smith, and Kelsey Tyler. Session Three will explore topics including the significance of art fairs and the establishment of a collector base. Speakers will be drawn from Gagosian’s roster of experienced artist liaisons and will include Andy Avini and Jona Lueddeckens.
Pleading Freedom, an exhibition by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts NXTHVN Gallery, 169 Henry Street, New Haven, CT 06511 on until September 26, 2020
Gagosian will offer sales support for Pleading Freedom, an exhibition by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts, which will be open at the NXTHVN Gallery on August 12, 2020. Proceeds from Pleading Freedom will support NXTHVN’s work toward systemic change, racial justice, and equality. The Redaction series on view in this exhibition was originally presented at MoMA PS1, New York, in 2019, and supported by Agnes Gund and the Arts for Justice Fund. Pleading Freedom marks the first occasion on which Kaphar’s paintings Yet Another Fight for Remembrance (Study) (2014)—the first work of his to appear in TIME magazine—and Analagous Colors (2020)—the most recent—will be on view together at NXTHVN’s space in New Haven. Both works were made to accompany coverage of civil unrest in the face of institutional violence against Black and brown people. It will also be the first time that Analogous Colors, which made national headlines when it appeared on the cover of TIME’s June 15, 2020, issue, has been shown publicly. Pleading Freedom advances the themes explored in these paintings by focusing on the ways that state and federal court systems exploit the poor and incarcerated, effectively erasing them from public consciousness. The “redacted” works on paper combine Betts’s poetry with Kaphar’s etched portraits of incarcerated individuals, and draw inspiration and source material from lawsuits filed by Alec Karakatsanis of the Civil Rights Corps (CRC) on behalf of people incarcerated as a result of their inability to pay court fines and fees. Betts uses the legal strategy of redaction to craft verse from legal documents, capturing the complicated and pervasive effects of time spent incarcerated. These poems are then screenprinted on paper using the Redaction typeface, imagined for this project in collaboration with designers Forest Young (Wolff Olins) and Jeremy Mickel (MCKL Foundry) and made available for free online. For more information about NXTHVN nxthvn.com #NXTHVN
