UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — 'Keith Lemley: A Theory of Everything' opens at Woskob Family Gallery on Oct. 26, 2017, and runs through Sept. 30, 2018. The opening reception will be held 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Penn State alumnus Keith Lemley is the Woskob Family Gallery's 2017–2018 Woskob Wall artist. The Woskob Wall is an annual program, begun in 2016, for which the gallery invites a different contemporary artist each year to fabricate and install a new, site-specific installation for its signature 22-feet-high, 30-feet-long curving wall.
Lemley will visit State College from Oct. 18-27, during which time he will craft the new work, using his signature combination of maple and neon — two seemingly disparate materials unified through geometry and form. Called "A Theory of Everything," this new work explores the artist’s interests in current scientific theories connecting disparate parts of the universe through underlying geometries. The installation will unify the space and its unique architecture through the formal and material qualities of light, line, color, neon and wood.
The project is co-sponsored by the Penn State School of Visual Arts’ Sculpture Club and the Borough of State College. The completion of the work will be marked by a celebratory reception, free and open to the public, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26. Additionally, Lemley will give a public lecture about his work in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Lemley received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Penn State in 2005 and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2010. In the past 12 years he has mounted more than 20 solo exhibitions at prominent national and international venues, including Mixed Greens (New York City); 1708 Gallery (Richmond, Virginia); The Sculpture Center (Cleveland, Ohio); Favreau (Montreal, Canada); and Summerhall (Edinburgh, United Kingdom).
The Woskob Family Gallery is a contemporary art space in downtown State College that brings a cohesive and carefully curated program of exhibitions and events to central Pennsylvania. Run by Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, the gallery serves as a laboratory for exploring how the arts can catalyze creative placemaking. The gallery is located at 146 South Allen Street.
Gallery hours are 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, please contact Program Manager Haley Finnegan at hbs131@psu.edu or (814) 863-5353, or visit woskobfamilygallery.psu.edu.