Getting Emotional

Sport stars break down in Senate hearings. A presidential race is derailed by a scream. Giddy video-game car thieves celebrate. From the rise of sensitive superheroes to the proliferation of mood-regulating drugs like Prozac, the concept and culture of emotion runs deeply through our experience of contemporary life and the images that we see. Getting Emotional presents the work of a diverse selection of artists for whom emotion is an important subject. The exhibition charts the profound attention paid to emotion by artists during the past decade and a half, while also including work from the 1960s to the 1980s that anticipates this recent exploration. Approaching the theme in video, photography, painting, and sculpture, works like Chloe Pieneis video of an anguished, open-mouthed woman or Paul Pfeifferis video of a roaring basketball player, along with contributions from Bas Jan Ader, Chris Ofili, and other international stars, measure the distance weive come in letting ourselves go.