Innocence redux

"Killjoy" asks if empathy erodes as we grow up. I think not.

Cal Rice, “Fawn.” 2023. Acrylic paint on wood panel.

"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."

—Toni Morrison

Usually, I get a grasp of a show before going to see it by looking over images and reading what the venue sends out; if research is called for, I’ll see the art first and do the reading later.

Last week, I went to see a show that drew me, in part, because of its description. “Killjoy,” curated by Ola Aksan at Harvard Ed Portal, “posits that a lifetime of harsh behaviors challenges our innate capacity for understanding others,” according to the website.

That worried me. My first thought was, “oh my God, is this pointing to a trend? Are artists leaning into cynicism?”