UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.- On January 5, the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State opened its first exhibition of the 2019 season, Subjective Spaces: Drawings and Collages by Robert Reed. The intimate retrospective features sixteen selections from Reed’s drawings and collages that are rich in the geometric nonobjectivity, born almost exclusively within the imagination, that marked his entire career.

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Robert Reed (1938–2014) served as a faculty member in Yale University’s School of Art teaching painting and drawing for nearly fifty years. He was best known throughout the art world for his dedication to abstraction built from geometric shapes of personalized and abstract symbols, stark contrasts in colors and textures, and graphic and layered compositions.

“Reed’s innovative curriculum and his unique studio culture have influenced the teaching and creative practices of generations, but there is no documentation of his pedagogy and little access to his art,” said Cathy Braasch, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at Penn State and former student of Robert Reed, who served as guest curator.

The exhibition is offered in collaboration with Penn State’s Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which is celebrating Reed’s influence as an educator with a series of drawing workshops and lectures to be held in February 2019.

“This exhibition and the Robert Reed Drawing Workshops are an opportunity to make his legacy more visible and engage a new generation of students,” added Braasch.

Subjective Spaces is organized by the Palmer Museum of Art. All works are on loan from the Robert Reed Estate.