Jonathan Brand, Jaclyn Conley, Titus Kaphar: NXTHVN Founders and Fellow
Artist Statement:
Founders and Fellow brings together the work of Titus Kaphar, Jonathan Brand and Jaclyn Conley. Kaphar, Brand, and Conley are artists who have lived in New Haven for over 10 years and components of NXTHVN, an ambitious art space located in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut.
Founders and Fellow speaks to the power of NXTHVN’s mission to bring artists together in a collaborative space that values inclusion and community engagement. In their own ways, the socially conscious artistic practices of Titus Kaphar, Jonathan Brand, and Jaclyn Conley explore the potential of media and materiality as a tool to unpack, communicate, and reimagine the past, present, and future of society. In this show, the work of these artists in conjunction showcases the breadth of NXTHVN’s mission to create an environment where artists can work together to reimagine the world through their artwork.
Jonathan Brand
Jonathan Brand is an artist and the founder of NXTHVN. He is the recipient of the distinguished Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, several Canada Council for the Arts project grants, The Roberts Foundation Grant, and the Connecticut Commission for the Arts Grants. Brand received a BA from the University of Guelph and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. He lives and works in New Haven with his wife, artist Jaclyn Conley, and their son.
Titus Kaphar
Titus Kaphar is an artist and the founder and president of NXTHVN. In his practice, he cuts, bends, sculpts, and mixes the work of Classic and Renaissance painters, creating formal games and new tales between fiction and quotation. His paintings, sculptures, and installations examine the history of representation by transforming its styles and mediums with formal innovations, seeking to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to unearth its contemporary relevance. Kaphar received a BFA from San Jose State University and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. Kaphar lives and works in New Haven with his wife Julianne and their sons.
Jaclyn Conley
Jaclyn Conley is a resident of NXTHVN’s studio fellowship in 2019, NXTHVN’s pilot year. She is a Canadian born artist based in New Haven, Connecticut. In her series of paintings All The President’s Children, she references the archived photographs of First Ladies and Presidents sourced from Presidential Library collections in order to reimagine the American First Family as a symbol of the “American ideal.”
About NXTHVN:
Founded in 2015, NXTHVN aims to cultivate a sustainable creative community that attracts and supports talent within and beyond New Haven. The NXTHVN team, alongside TenBerke, has designed a unique shared environment where artists and curators converge for an opportunity to make art, exchange ideas, and extend their networks.
