{"data":{"id":"11215","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":11215,"topgoose_id":2311,"tms_id":11215,"display_name":"Kevin Jerome Everson","sort_name":"Everson Kevin Jerome","display_date":"1965–","begin_date":"1965","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eIn his feature-length films and dozens\nof short-form pieces, Kevin Jerome Everson\ncaptures moments of everyday life that\nare by turns quotidian and suffused with\nsignificance—often both at once. Everson’s\ncamera frequently is trained on working-\nclass African Americans, and his films,\nmade at sites such as a factory and a dry\ncleaning facility, present what he has\ndescribed as “things that people take for\ngranted.” His use of long, uninterrupted\ntakes and the inclusion of archival footage\nlend these works a reportorial quality.\nYet Everson’s films are not documentaries.\nInstead, he complicates what viewers\nmight assume to be a disinterested or\ntransparent point of view: seeming actuality\nis interspersed with scripted scenarios,\nfound or archival material is intermixed\nwith contemporary footage, and the\nmundane is punctuated by drama. Because\nthe line between truth and fabrication is\noften blurred in Everson’s films, viewers\nare left to disentangle events and connect\nactions that occur across space and\ntime, distinguishing fact from fiction\nfor themselves.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/39379\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNinety-Three\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is a silent film titled for\nthe age of its subject, an elderly man\nwho is shown trying to blow out ninety-three\ncandles on a large birthday cake and\nfinally succeeding. The elegiac and formal\nqualities of this work are most apparent\nwhen the gallery, illuminated with light from\nthe candles on the screen, goes entirely\ndark at the conclusion. The man, a relative\nwho has appeared in other of the artist’s\nfilms, takes on symbolic significance\nas Everson conjures from the simplest of\nscenes a meditation on mortality and\nthe passage of time.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500294257","wikidata_id":"Q28869355","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:17:41.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-30T07:01:20.220-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/11215/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/11215/exhibitions"}}}}