Anderson Series Lecture by Conceptual Artist Lawrence Weiner

February 5, 2007

Lawrence Weiner, a central figure in conceptual art, will give a lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7, in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art. The lecture is sponsored by the Penn State School of Visual Arts’ John M. Anderson Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series and is free to the public.

Weiner, a native of the Bronx, N.Y., first exhibited his work in Mill Valley, Calif., in 1960, and later at the Seth Siegelaub Gallery, New York City, in 1964. A turning point in his approach to art occurred in 1968 when he created a work for an outside exhibition at Windham College in Vermont, defining the space for his work with stakes in the ground and twine strung between them. When students cut the twine because it hamperepd their access across the campus lawn, Weiner realized the only way his work could have been less obtrusive was for it to be a written description. Not long after this, he turned to language as the vehicle for his work, using wall installations as his primary medium.

His upcoming projects include: solo exhibitions at The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, March 22-December 9, 2007; Para/Site Art Space in Hong Kong, opening March 1, 2007; and Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon, opening April 12; and group exhibitions at Artememoria 4, Scavi de Ostia Antica, Italy, January 28-March 11, 2007; and 52nd International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Italy, curated by Robert Storr, June 10-November 21, 2007. Weiner lives in New York and Amsterdam.

Contact: Sarah Schwartz, ses32@psu.edu