About the Artist
Artist/Filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson has made over one-hundred and seventy films including Tonsler Park, The Island of Saint Matthews, Erie, Ears, Nose and Throat, Sound That, Sugarcoated Arsenic, with Claudrena Harold, and Park Lanes. He also has three DVD box sets of his films; How You Live Your Story: Selected Works by Kevin Jerome Everson, Broad Daylight and Other Times and I Really Hear Something: Quality Control and Other Films.
Everson’s films and artwork have been widely shown at venues including Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Oberhausen Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Museum of African-American History, The Tate Modern in London, Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris. The films have streamed on multiple platform sites including Criterion Channel and MUBI. The work has also been recognized through awards and fellowships such as Guggenheim Fellowship, an Alpert Award, a Heinz Award, a Creative Capital Fellowship, an American Academy in Rome Prize, and an American Academy in Berlin Prize.
Everson is represented by Picture Palace Pictures New York and Andrew Kreps Gallery New York.
The liquid blackness group has been inspired by Everson’s work since its earliest days: a conversation between Michael Boyce Gillespie and Everson appeared in the second issue of the liquid blackness journal in 2014 and the group had the privilege to involve him in the liquid blackness Symposium on the Arts and Politics of the Jazz Ensemble prompted by an experimental study of Larry Clark’s Passing Through (1977) in 2015. The next encounter, in Berkeley, where he keynoted the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present’s annual conference in a program curated by Michael Gillespie at the Pacific Film Archive, spurred yet another investment in his work, and particularly in the pivotal role of the props his sculpts for his films, which are one of the main themes in the conversation with the artist, introduced and facilitated by Alessandra Raengo and Lauren McLeod Cramer, “There is No form in the Middle”: Kevin Everson’s Massive Abstractions, forthcoming in liquid blackness: journal of aesthetics and black studies 5, no. 2 (Fall 2021).
liquid blackness in conversation with Kevin Jerome Everson
February 26 Teach-In
Selected Works
Director
Fire Emergencies (Short), 2022
Flak-Kaserne Ludwigsburg (Short), 2021
Lago Gatún (Documentary), 2021
June July (Short) ), 2021
Black Vulture (Short), 2021
May June July (Short), 2021
East Technical High School (Smart) (Short), 2021
July (Short), 2021
Pride (Short), 2021
The I and S of Lives (Short), 2021
Inventory (Short), 2021
Brown Thrasher (Short), 2020
Glenville (Short), co-directed with Kahlil Pedizisai, 2020
Sanfield (Short), 2020
Union (Short), 2020
Partial Differential Equation (Short), 2020
Recovery (Short), 2020
Condor (Short), 2019
Hampton (Short), co-directed with Claudrena Harold, 2019
Westinghouse Three (Short), 2019
Music from the Edge of the Allegheny Plateau (Short), 2019
Traveling Shoes (Short), 2019
Black Bus Stop (Short), co-directed with Claudrena Harold, 2019
Goddess (Short), 2018
Richland Blue (Short), 2018
Polly One (Short), 2018
Rhino (Short), 2018
Round Seven (Short), 2018
How Can I Ever Be Late (Short), 2017
Brown and Clear (Short), 2017
IFO (Short), 2017
70kg (Short), 2017
R-15 (Short), 2017
Carrs Down South (Short), 2017
Rams 23 Blue Bears 21 (Short), 2017
Fastest Man in the State (Short), co-directed with Claudrena Harold, 2017
Improvement Association (Short), 2017
Tonsler Park, 2017 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYVMiHfCGg
Eason (Short), 2016
Auditioning for Nathaniel (Short), 2016
We Demand (Short), co-directed with Claudrena Harold, 2016
Ears, Nose and Throat (Short), 2016
It Seems to Hang On (Short), 2015
Grand Finale (Short), 2015
Three Quarters (Short), 2015
Park Lanes, 2015
Mansfield Product Company (Short), 2014
Sound That (Short), 2014
Sugarcoated Arsenic (Short),co-directed with Claudrena Harold, 2014
Fe26 (Short), 2014
Stone (Short), 2013
The Island of St. Matthews, 2013 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3dOjlp6PI
Rhinoceros (Short), 2012
Century (Short), 2012
Ten Five in the Grass (Short), 2012
Half On, Half Off (Short), 2011
Chevelle (Short), 2011
Chicken (Short), 2011
Early Riser (Short), 2011
Rita Larson’s Boy (Short), 2011
Quality Control, 2011- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmcsFTLmtZc
Erie, 2010 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gybJO8ekm1c
753 McPherson Street (Short), 2009
Company Line (Short), 2009
Lead (Short), 2009
Telethon (Short), 2009
The Golden Age of Fish, 2008
Emergency Needs (Short), 2007
Cinnamon, 2006 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8jUcvzVYOs
Twenty Minutes (Short), 2005
Spicebush, 2005
Pictures from Dorothy (Short), 2004
72 (Short), 2002
Sportello Quatto (Short), 2002
A Week in the Hole (Short), 2001
Exhibitions
Mansfield Deluxe
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, February 26 – March 27, 2021
http://www.andrewkreps.com/exhibitions/kevin-jerome-everson3/press-release
New Labor Movements
McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, October 14, 2020 – March 13, 2021
https://www.mcevoyarts.org/exhibition/new-labor-movements/
Screen: Kevin Jerome Everson
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, October 8, 2020 – November 4, 2020
https://www.moca.org/program/screen-kevin-jerome-everson
Westinghouse
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, February 29 – April 11, 2020
http://www.andrewkreps.com/exhibitions/kevin-jerome-everson2/press-release
Stranger Approaching
Bridget Donahue, New York, September 8 – November 2, 2019
https://www.bridgetdonahue.nyc/exhibitions/stranger-approaching-group-exhibition/
Kevin Jerome Everson: Grand Finale
Light Work: Urban Video Project, Syracuse, NY, November 9 – December 23, 2017
https://www.lightwork.org/archive/kevin-jerome-everson-grand-finale/
More Than That: Films by Kevin Jerome Everson
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 28 – September 18, 2011
Select Interviews
McEachern, Lena. “Dedicated to democracy: Filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson discusses documentary ‘Tonsler Park’.” The Stanford Daily. October 24, 2021. https://stanforddaily.com/2021/10/24/dedicated-to-democracy-filmmaker-kevin-jerome-everson-discusses-documentary-tonsler-park/
“Conversation with Kevin Jerome Everson and Maori Karmael Holmes.” ICA Philadelphia. April 1, [KB1] 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ihNEq0xcR8
“Kevin Jerome Everson on his new work.” American Academy in Berlin. March 12, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39LpoqdBApQ
Cassell, Dessane Lopez. “‘There’s Some Leisure in It, Too’: Kevin Jerome Everson on Labor, Art, and Film.” Hyperallergic. October 24, 2019.Also
“Filmforum at MOCA Presents: Kevin Jerome Everson.” The Museum of Contemporary Art. June 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtEX88csoyw
“BLACK FIRE UVA: Films by Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harold.” TIFF Talks. May 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbe-e5ki7n0
Ratner, Megan. “Abstraction Through Representation: Interview with Kevin Jerome Everson.” Film Quarterly, [KB2] no. 3 (2018): 58-64.
Gregory, Jarrett. “School is not in Session: Kevin Jerome Everson.” Mousse Magazine59 (2017)
http://moussemagazine.it/kevin-jerome-everson-jarrett-gregory-2017/
Cronk, Jordan. “Kevin Jerome Everson by Jordan Cronk.” Bomb Magazine. April 6, 2017. https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kevin-jerome-everson/
“Kevin Jerome Everson Masterclass.” MMCA. February 18, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64XGPGxh53o
Gillespie, Michael Boyce. “B.A.D. (Black Abstraction Dreaming): A Conversation with Kevin Jerome Everson.” Black Camera8, no. 1 (Fall 2016): 155-168. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.8.1.0155?seq=1
Francis, Terri. “Interview: Kevin Jerome Everson - Contemporary American Artist and 'Black Filmmaker'” Shadow and Act. August 24, 2015. https://shadowandact.com/interview-kevin-jerome-everson-contemporary-american-artist-and-black-filmmaker
Harold, Claudrena. “A Conversation with Kevin Jerome Everson.” Callaloo37, no.4 (2014): 802-808. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24265035
“In Conversation with Kevin Jerome Everson by Craig Drennen.” January 23, 2013. https://artcorejournal.net/2013/01/23/in-conversation-with-kevin-jerome-everson-by-craig-drennen/
Francis, Terri. “Of the Ludic, the Blues, and the Counterfeit: An Interview with Kevin Jerome Everson, Experimental Filmmaker.” Black Camera5, no. 1 (2013): 184-208. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/525952/pdf
Select Reviews
Arn, Jackson. “Kevin Jerome Everson’s Timely Films Explore the Skills Involved in ‘Unskilled’ Labor.” Art in America. April 20, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/kevin-jerome-everson-westinghouse-andrew-kreps-1202684368/
Forrester, Chris. “Filmmaker Kevin Everson’s art prioritizes processes, textures.” October 1, 2019.
Sicinski, Michael. “A Perfect Game: Kevin Jerome Everson’s Park Lanes.” Cinema Scope. https://cinema-scope.com/features/perfect-game-kevin-jerome-eversons-park-lanes/
Scholarship
Raengo, Alessandra and Lauren McLeod Cramer. “‘There Is No Form in the Middle’: Kevin Jerome Everson's Massive Abstractions.” liquid blackness 5 (2): 121–151. (2021) https://doi.org/10.1215/26923874-9272822
Scheible, Jeff. “Throwing Punches: The Athletic Aesthetics of Kevin Jerome Everson’s Filmmaking.” World Records Journal, vol 3. (2020) https://vols.worldrecordsjournal.org/03/03
Jensen, Rebekka. “Rehabilitating Observation: The Persistence of Observational Documentary in the Age of Post-Truth Politics.” Diffractions, no.1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.34632/diffractions.2019.1479
Greene, Shelleen. “Rhino/Rhinoceros: Experimental Cinema and the Migrant Condition.” California Italian Studies8, no. 2 (2018). https://escholarship.org/content/qt5628t5vx/qt5628t5vx.pdf?t=pn9syw
Selected New and Upcoming Projects
Gallagher, Ryan. “February 2022 Programming on the Criterion Channel Announced.” Criterion Cast. CriterionCast.com. January 24, 2022. https://criterioncast.com/news/february-2022-programming-on-the-criterion-channel-announced
Fire Emergencies World Premiere Berlin Film Festival February 2022
https://deadline.com/2022/01/berlin-co-pro-market-books-showcase-forum-perspektive-deutsches-kino-titles-1234911878/
Bittencourt, Ela. “What Not to Miss at the 2020 New York Film Festival.” Hyperallergic. September 21, 2020. https://hyperallergic.com/589644/what-not-to-miss-2020-new-york-film-festival/
Awards
Jury Prize: International Competition – Fiction & Documentary, VIS Vienna Independent Shorts, Black Bus Stop, 2019
American Academy in Berlin Prize, 2020
The Heinz Awards, Arts and Humanities, 2019
Human Rights Award: Best Film, Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, Tonsler Park, 2017
New Views Award: Best Film, Olhar de Cinema – Curitiba International Film Festival, Tonsler Park, 2017
Ken Burns Award: Best of the Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ears, Nose and Throat, 2016
Best International Short Film, Hamburg International Short Film Festival, Ears, Nose and Throat, 2016
Short Award – Special Mention, AFI Fest, Sound That, 2014
Best Documentary Short, Los Angeles Film Festival, Stone, 2013
The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Film/Video, 2012
EDA Speical Mention Award: Best of the Fests, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Cinnamon, 2006
