With a sense of place and historical research, Kevin Jerome Everson films combine scripted and documentary moments with rich elements of formalism. The subject matter is often gestures or tasks in the lives of working class African Americans. Instead of standard realism he favors a strategy that abstracts everyday actions and statements into theatrical gestures, in which real people perform fictional scenarios based on their own lives and historical observations intermesh with contemporary narratives. The films suggest the relentlessness of everyday life—along with its beauty.

Everson (b.1965) was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio. He is currently a Professor of Art at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He is the 2012 recipient of the Alpert Award for Excellence in Film Video and was the subject of a career retrospective at Visions du Réel (Nyon) in April 2012. Among other recognitions, Everson has received fellowships from the Guggenheim, NEA, NEH, Ohio Arts Council and the Virginia Museum, an American Academy Rome Prize and grants from Creative Capital and the Mid-Atlantic. The feature film Quality Control (2011) was included in the 2012 Whitney Biennial, and the short-form film Ten Five in the Grass was awarded the EURO prize at the 2012 Oberhausen Short Film Festival.

Tuesday, February 19, 12:30 pm
Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Image: Kevin Everson, Ten Five in the Grass (still), 2012. Films courtesy of the artist; Trilobite-Arts-DAC; Picture Palace Pictures.