Two exhibitions to open at Verostko Center

by Public Relations | August 27, 2024

LATROBE, PA - The Verostko Center for the Arts, located on the Saint Vincent College campus within the Dale P. Latimer Library, is pleased to announce two exhibitions to mark the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year. Both exhibitions open with a public reception on Thursday, Sept. 5, from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at the Center. All are welcome to the opening reception. Refreshments will be served. Reservations are not required.

Fiat Lux: Christian Painting from the Estate of Frank Mason

Motivated deeply by his faith and mastery of classical painting, Frank Mason (1921-2009) created dozens of works imaging Biblical subjects and scenes from the lives of the saints over the course of his prolific career. Mason came to perfect a form of realist painting inspired by the work of Rembrandt, Raphael, Tiepolo and Titian while simultaneously developing his own personal style. An instructor of fine arts at the Art Students League of New York for 57 years, Mason educated generations of artists in the technical approaches to painting employed since the Renaissance. It was Mason's use of light that links his work to the artists he most admired.

Exploring the effects of light and shadow, the paintings in this exhibition reveal the artist's interest in visualizing Christian narratives using traditional methods but illuminating the figures in novel ways.

Loaned from the artist's estate and the Tomayko Foundation (Pittsburgh), "Fiat Lux" features over two dozen paintings and preliminary studies in the first exhibition centered on the artist's treatment of Christian themes since his death in 2009.

Imaging the Unseen: Roman Joseph Verostko (1929-2024)

This memorial exhibition surveys the extensive career of the Verostko Center's namesake, Roman Joseph Verostko, C'55, S'59, H'21. After working as an artist for over 75 years, Verostko died at his home on June 1, 2024, leaving an indelible impact on generations of digital creatives working around the world.

Verostko was formerly a Benedictine monk at Saint Vincent Archabbey and a professionally trained painter and scholar before he began experimenting with electronic media, circuit logic and computer languages. Exposure to computer coding in Minneapolis during the early 1970s prompted him to convert his studio into a space where pen plotters, driven by extensive coded sequences, would execute drawings informed by approaches to abstract painting that he had encountered decades prior. Forming friendships with like-minded artists working with recent innovations in computational technology, Verostko mounted exhibitions, organized symposia, and lectured widely on the ways in which concealed algorithmic procedures could be leveraged to create art reflective of the digital age. Despite staunch resistance from those who maintained computer-assisted drawing would never be considered art, Verostko remained resolute in revealing a universe of visual forms that do not "re-present" the world as previous generations had sought to do but rather make visible the invisible.

"Imaging the Unseen" surveys the artist's sustained interest in creating abstract visual forms that communicate ideas linked to theology, mathematics and language. Additionally, the exhibition includes rarely-seen portraits of Verostko created by fellow artists.

In addition to these exhibitions, new selections from the Saint Vincent Art & Heritage Collections are on view, including a collection of work by late 19^thand early 20^th century French artists gifted on behalf of Michael and Aimee Rusinko Kakos to the College in 2022.

"Fait Lux" will be on view through October 11. "Imaging the Unseen" will be on view through November 1. While classes are in session, the Verostko Center is open Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; and by appointment ([email protected]). To learn more, visit verostkocenter.org.

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