Antonakos in Action

Visiting artist Stephen Antonakos is surrounded by students and faculty who participated in a lunch-time discussion. During the installation of his site-specific exhibit in early February, Antonakos draws plans (bottom row from left to right), talks with art majors, is assisted by Jena Newman '04, and meets with Lauren Ricca '04 and Ed Kerns, Clapp Professor of Art and the Williams Visual Arts Building director.

This year's Grossman Visiting Artist at Lafayette, Stephen Antonakos, uses light in the way that painters employ brushes. The New York sculptor was featured in multiple exhibitions that began Feb. 10, spanning the Williams Center for the Arts and Grossman Galleries at Lafayette, and the MCS Gallery in downtown Easton. "Antonakos has the distinct ability to use light as both line and form," says sculptor Jim Toia, director of the Grossman Gallery and former assistant to the artist. "The color itself takes on physical presence, both by determining space and negating it at times. That phenomenon allows him to occupy a unique place in the world of contemporary art. His approach spans numerous decades and movements of art of the second half of the 20th century, addressing issues of minimalism, pop art, and the spiritual in art."

Senior art majors Jena Newman, Elizabeth King, Jeb Madigan, and Kelly Russell observed the installation process at the Grossman Gallery in the Williams Visual Arts Building on Third Street and provided assistance to Antonakos, who created five large-scale drawings and a site-specific installation featuring neon tubes on two walls, including one built specifically for the exhibition. The display at the Williams Center was comprised of vellum drawings, chapel models, and neon panels, as well as life-size digital prints of two of the models. The MCS Gallery hosted neon panels.

Art honors student candidates and studio art EXCEL Scholars shared lunch with Antonakos during his February visit and discussed his work. He returned for a campus residency in early March to give a public lecture, attend a reception, and meet with students again, talking with the honors students about their projects.

Before the exhibition began, Newman and King joined with Ed Kerns, Eugene H. Clapp '36 Professor of Art and director of the Williams Visual Arts Building, and Anthony Crisafulli, associate professor of digital media at Albright College, to produce In the Studio with Stephen Antonakos, a DVD that served as the exhibition catalog. About 40 minutes long, it was created through interviews with the artist on campus and at his New York studio.

The Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Artist- in-Residence and Exhibition Series was established in 1992 by Richard Grossman '64 and his wife Rissa to provide opportunities for intensive interaction between students and major artists and support campus exhibitions.