Dr. Daniel Guentchev, assistant professor of philosophy at Bemidji State University, will deliver an Honors Council Lecture on figurative art, nature and modernity on Sept. 25.

Guentchev’s presentation, “The Speech of the World: Art and Normativity in Modernity,” will be held at 7 p.m. in Hagg Sauer 112 on the Bemidji State campus. Honors Council Lectures are open to the public free of charge.

The lecture will examine the possibilities of figurative art in relation to thinking about nature. The examination will use a description of modernity offered by Gregg Horowitz, who described modern times as “loss disguised as triumph over nature.” In this lecture, Guentchev will discuss “whether figurative art can contribute to recovering some of what is lost.”

Guentchev teaches philosophy at Bemidji State. He took private art lessons in his home town of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, before obtaining a bachelor of fine arts degree in studio art and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt. He also holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Toledo, and earned his doctorate at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in May, 2012.

The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council. The council is the advisory group to the honors program comprised of 12 faculty members from each of the University’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.

For more information about the Honors Council Lecture Series, please contact the honors program at (218) 755-3984.