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Summer in Winter: Paintings by Anthony Apesos at Harvard Arboretum
“Bars of Light”; Anthony Apesos
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Hailing from Philadelphia by way of Newark, New Jersey, Anthony Apesos has created a name for himself in the Boston art world. Since 1992 he has functioned as the chair of the Fine Arts Department at the Art Institute of Boston. While in Boston, Apesos has spent many summers at the Arnold Arboretum near the Harvard Campus, no doubt inspiring his American realist paintings. From January 9–March 3, 2010, the Arnold Arboretum will present Summer in Winter: Paintings by Anthony Apesos, a collection by the artists of paintings done in, and of, the arboretum’s landscapes.
Apesos’ typical work can be categorized in the American realist tradition with technical kinship to Venetian masters. Visually, his works are sublimely lifelike, existing in a netherworld where everything looks the same but a little dewier, a little less tangible. In fact, much of Apeso’s work deals with the theme of human emptiness—the longing for lost love, time, companionship and the likelihood (or lack thereof) of never getting it back.
Summer in Winter finds Apesos viewing the arboretum through this lens, a world where the trees offer both hope and hopelessness, a potential—if impracticable—alternative. But in these blistering days of winter, even a painting of the unattainable days of summer (Apesos’ works were all painted in the summer) helps to shield us from the cold.
Summer in Winter: Paintings by Anthony Apesos will be in view at Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall January 9–March 3, 2010. For more information on hours of operation and about the exhibit, please visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.