“Artists sometimes have feelings”; or, Toward an Aesthetics of Reconciliation

On the eve of Harvard Commencement, artist Jesse Aron Green will talk about his exhibition Ärztliche Zimmergymnastik, on view from May 23 to August 9, 2015, at the Harvard Art Museums.

He will also revisit the Fogg Museum’s Edgar Degas exhibition of 1911, the first granted by the museum to a living artist. “Art is not dead,” Fogg director Edward Forbes said at the time, adding one significant drawback to the vitality of contemporary art: “Artists sometimes have feelings.” Green will expand upon Forbes’s comments in light of the history of the university, its relationship to art and artists, his personal history and artistic development, and his current artistic practice, which often attempts to reconcile historical forces with the affective conditions of contemporary life.

Green received his A.B. from Harvard College in 2002 and his M.F.A. from UCLA in 2008. His work has been celebrated with exhibitions around the world, at such institutions as the Tate Modern; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston; the Bologna Museum of Modern Art; the Center for Contemporary Art, in Warsaw; Halle 14, in Leipzig; and many others. He lives and works in Boston.

This event will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Following the lecture, attendees are invited to visit the Jesse Aron Green exhibition. The exhibition will be open to attendees until 8pm.

Free admission. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway.

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, in Cambridge.

This lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Jesse Aron Green: Ärztliche Zimmergymnastik at the Harvard Art Museums.

Support for the lecture is provided by the M. Victor Leventritt Fund, which was established through the generosity of the wife, children, and friends of the late M. Victor Leventritt, Harvard Class of 1935. The purpose of the fund is to present outstanding scholars of the history and theory of art to the Harvard and Greater Boston communities. Support for this program is also provided by the Widgeon Charitable Trust.