Honor Titus (b. 1989, NY) is a multidisciplinary American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Since his first solo exhibition in 2020, he 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.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1989, Titus came to form in a New York punk rock outfit in the early 2010s. At this time, Titus also gathered some renown for his poetry through independent readings in New York City, where he became associated with the artist Raymond Pettibon, who provided the cover art for his bands first album. Titus began working in Pettibon’s studio, where he assisted and developed an interest in stylized graphic art. Later, the artist Henry Taylor also befriended Titus and gave him his first solo exhibition, introducing him to the Los Angeles contemporary art landscape.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2016, Titus has focused exclusively on his visual art practice, and his work has since received extensive critical acclaim in publications such as The New York Times, Frieze magazine, Artnet, Interview and Art in America. He is particularly noted for his use of vibrant, painterly colour and his distinct use of recurring motifs such as the significance of solitude and a nostalgia for the pre-digital era. His work has drawn comparisons to the influences of Edward Hopper and the nineteenth-century French Symbolist group Les Nabis.
Recent solo exhibitions include Advantage In, Gagosian, Beverly Hills (2023); For Heaven’s Sake, Timothy Taylor, New York (2021); and Goodness Gracious, Henry Taylor Gallery, Los Angeles (2020).
Group exhibitions include IRL at Timothy Taylor, London (2021); and I will wear you in my heart of heart, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2021); and (Nothing but) Flowers, Karma, New York (2021).
Collections include:
Royal Collection Trust, UKMOCA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
Flag Foundation, NY, NY, USA
Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, China
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Rennie Collection, Vancouver, Canada
Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA
Honor Titus in Rome, Italy (2024)