Spotlight: Honor Titus

JUNE 23-AUGUST 12, 2022

The FLAG Art Foundation’s Spotlight exhibition series includes new or never-before-exhibited artworks accompanied by commissioned pieces of writing. In its fourth iteration, the Spotlight features Honor Titus’s Thy Margent Green, 2022, and a Q&A between the artist and Derek Blasberg,  a writer, editor, and current Head of Fashion & Beauty and Director of Public Figures for YouTube.  

Derek Blasberg: “Honor Titus.” It's a good name. Where does it come from? 

Honor Titus: My mother always tells me, “It was an Honor to have you.” My name was almost Alexandre–Haitian descent–and my senile grandfather called me Alexandre until he passed, ha. 

DB: You live in LA but I see you have a 718 phone number.

HT: I'm from Brooklyn, and my birthday is July 18th, which is 7/18, and I'm someone who has always loved his birthday. Much of my history and who I am is interwoven into those city streets. I'll definitely have a place there again. Also, New York is the best place to listen to jazz. It is like an alchemic reaction. 

DB: When did you move to LA? Did you plan it or did it just happen? 

HT: I moved in the winter of 2016. It was semi-planned. I came here to relax and think... I just didn't know how much thinking I had to do! It became apparent that LA had the attributes I needed to really progress, as a person primarily. 

DB: I grew up in Missouri and everyone I knew had a practical job that worked with numbers or their hands. I was jealous of people who got to grow up in big cities and know they can become artists. What was your childhood in New York like? Did you know that singing, painting, or poetry could be a career? 

HT: I grew up with two young parents and my mother liked somewhat eclectic music. She’d play the Velvet Underground at our house in deep Brooklyn, and that informed me that there was "more." To say my parents fostered something would be misguided. I was oftentimes alone and reveled in my imagination. I don't know who to blame but Lou Reed is the clearest culprit. One of the greatest graces in my life is that I am unabashedly interested. It has mostly served me but it has also led me down some… we'll say "strange" roads. I didn't necessarily care for approval or permission in my interests, and I would run headlong towards inspiration until I stood up where I landed.

DB: We met through mutual friends but you looked familiar. I did my homework and you worked with Dan Colen, who's a good buddy of mine, and Raymond Pettibon, who I'm a fan of. What did you learn from these guys? 

HT: I was in both of their studios. Both were drastically different experiences but both important, nonetheless. To see the nuts and bolts of a studio practice was very important. My time with Raymond was intimate. Ray is so gracious and intelligent and we initially bonded over literature. He walked me through his library and would pull copies of various French authors. He turned me on to Louis Ferdinand Celine. We’re dear friends and he brought me in to look after me in some ways. Dan also took me in to look after me, but our relationship was a bit more formal. His studio showed me what an elaborate dance it can all be: the collector and artist relationship, and whatnot.

DB: How do you work now? Do you have a studio?

HT: My studio is in downtown LA. I spend much of my time reveling in my imagination alone, just like childhood. I sometimes sketch, collage, photo, write, numerous methods and mediums contribute to my drafting process.

DB: Let's talk about the painting at FLAG. I know it was inspired by a boy at a school function at Eton College. I only know of Eton because that's where Prince William went to school. He’s my age and, as a kid, I sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a prince and that's what I think of when I think of Eton. What do you think of? 

HT: I love that. I have an obsession with boarding schools and school uniforms and the ephemera inherent. It stems from an aesthetic interest coupled with coming of age. I'm well versed in Salinger and Fitzgerald and have read Evelyn Waugh with great enthusiasm. To answer your question, it has to do with this aesthetically perfect sense of ambition and safety. To practice Chopin in a drawing room that dates back to the 18th century feels so foreign in today's culture of transient pop songs and depressive news cycles. 

DB: The boy in the painting is part of the school's annual commencement ceremony, in which the kids wave at the Queen. How did you know about this ceremony? 

HT: I came across some photographs of the boys with flowers in their hats and was immediately enamored. Pageantry and tradition have become more important to me as I grow older. Eton has been called "The Gentleman Factory" and I, a Black boy from deep Brooklyn, also consider myself a gentleman. By finding and examining these establishments and rituals, they’ve become mine.

DB: The flowers and the hats. The beautiful details. Is that the first thing you noticed too?

HT: Yes, very much so. It struck me as absolutely beautiful. It was Oscar Wilde who said, “Beauty is a form of genius—is indeed higher than genius as it needs no explanation." My intent was to capture that beauty. If I were to accomplish it, I would be in the realm of genius at last!

DB: Are you a royalist? I was at a dinner recently and one side of the table got into a heated discussion about the relevance of the royal family. Everyone agreed the Queen is an icon but some of them thought they should just shut it all down when she died. I was shocked. What do you think? 

HT: I think it accomplishes a very important function for a nation. They are to be an example of taste, tradition, and temper for a society. As we look to different transient and numerous social mediums and messengers, where are the ones who are time tested and have always been there and have a relatively objective relationship with the world? I think the royal family are more relevant than ever because the need for societal touchstones and regularity are so needed. 

DB: I like pomp and circumstance. I like robes and traditions. Are there other social rituals, royal or otherwise, that you are drawn to? I've seen paintings you've done of cheerleaders and Black tennis players, which is kind of a pomp sport. 

HT: I love pomp and circumstance too. I love sport, which is filled with ritual and repetition. I enjoy movement and how we connect in moments of joy. I think another motif in my work is joy. I like to wade the waters of nostalgia, longing, and hope, which I find to be joyful emotions. Class is an important aspect of my work too. Not that I think I am above anything or anyone, but elegant things attract me.

DB: In 2021, you did a self-portrait and you're holding red roses and a bottle of sparkling water. You're also wearing a preppy V-neck sweater and Gucci loafers. Any significance to those beautiful details? 

HT: I try to never come empty handed and roses and water are often what I'll have in tow. As far as the clothing, that's simply what I wear.

DB: Just so you know, that's my dream outfit and my dream date night. 

HT: If we weren't well acquainted with each other's significant others, I would think you're asking me out.  

About:

Honor Titus (b. 1989, Brooklyn, NY) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Since his first solo exhibition in 2019, Titus has quickly garnered international recognition for his painting practice, which weaves together a surreal, expressive iconography with references drawn variously from literature, art history, music, architecture, and American advertising traditions. Recent solo exhibitions include For Heaven’s Sake, Timothy Taylor, New York, NY (2021); Goodness Gracious, Studio Henry Taylor, Los Angeles, CA (2020). His work has been part of numerous group exhibitions, including IRL (In Real Life), Timothy Taylor, London, United Kingdom (2021); Parallel Worlds, Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv, Israel (2021); and I will wear you in my heart of heart, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2021); (Nothing but) Flowers, Karma, New York, NY (2020); among others. Titus has been the subject of reviews and articles in publications including Art in America, Artnet, Frieze, GQ, Interview Magazine, The New York Times, Town & Country, among others.

Derek Blasberg: (b.1982, St. Louis, MO) is a New York-based journalist, editor, and current Head of Fashion & Beauty and Director of Public Figures for YouTube. Blasberg earned BAs in both Dramatic Literature and Journalism at New York University, NY, in 2004. Beginning his career at Vogue magazine, Blasberg went on to become the youngest ever Editor-at-Large at Harper’s Bazaar, V, and VMAN. In 2008, Blasberg edited Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s book Interview. He would go on to write the New York Times bestseller Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady in 2010, followed by the sequel Very Classy: Even More Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady in 2011. In 2015, Blasberg was appointed Vanity Fair’s ‘Our Man on the Street’ and there, created the magazine’s first ever digital franchise. That same year, he published Harper’s Bazaar: Models highlighting the magazine’s cover models from the past sixty years. From 2016-18, Blasberg hosted the reboot of CNN Style, a monthly series that covered art, luxury, fashion, autos, architecture, and design. Blasberg has been with Gagosian since 2014, both as a senior staffer and Executive Editor of the gallery’s editorial publication Gagosian Quarterly. He is also a contributing editor of Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, and several international editions of Vogue.

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