A Lover’s Discourse is a new series of artist-led presentations at the Aspen Art Museum introducing unexpected dialogues between artworks from different generations. Each exhibition juxtaposes recent works by an early-career artist who also selects a companion piece borrowed from private collections in Aspen spanning historical and contemporary pieces across figurative and abstract painting, sculpture, video, works on paper, sound.

The final displays give form to powerful pairings that speak to the complexity of intergenerational, cross-cultural connections, as entering in conversation with the past to reflect on the present is essentially a non-linear pursuit. As part of the development of their final presentations, the artists engage in investigations into cultural influence and meaning, boundaries of media and methodologies of production that lead to new questions rather than answers in regard to their own practice and the contemporary artistic discourse more broadly.

Driven by a dialogic approach, the title of the program is inspired by Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse (1977) in which the author embarks on a fragmented philosophical exploration of love as an emotional language – from absence to drama, from fulfilment to waiting, dedication and embrace.

A Lover’s Discourse is curated by AAM Curator at Large Stella Bottai

Text byAspen Art Museum