PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts hosts a site-specific exhibition by Philadelphian Paul Swenbeck, Specter of the Brocken, through Nov. 21, 2004, in the Academy's Morris Gallery for contemporary art. In Specter of the Brocken, Philadelphia artist Paul Swenbeck refers to a rainbow-like reflective phenomenon--once believed to be a specter--first recorded on the Brock peak in the German Harz Mountains. Climbers at high altitudes saw their haloed reflection in the clouds or fog. Before the advent of scientific understanding, the specter of the Brocken was interpreted as a demonic apparition, steeped in the pagan folklore of the region. In Specter of the Brocken, Swenbeck brings together cast resin creatures, plexiglass ghosts, wall murals, mirrors and theatrical lighting to create an environment that evokes fantasy and German pagan mythology, employing the funhouse sensibility of Coney Island and New Jersey shore boardwalk amusements.

Over the past several years, Swenbeck has combined sculpture, painting, photography, and craft to create installations that explore occult and spiritual themes--filtered through his own idiosyncratic perspective. Swenbeck's art is influenced by his autobiography; as a native of Salem, Mass., he was exposed to the lore of the witch trials that occurred there in the 1690s (as a teen, he worked at the Witch Dungeon Museum). Thus, Swenbeck is not only interested in the reality of these events, but their permutation in popular culture. Folk expression also informs his work, including motifs and materials appropriated from the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Philadelphia Mummers, and street vendors in India and Nepal.

Swenbeck has shown extensively in the Philadelphia region at venues including Institute of Contemporary Art; Vox Populi; Project Room; Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts; Space 1026; Abington Art Center; Main Line Art Center; and Moore College of Art and Design. He has also exhibited at The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN; Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC; and Keith Talent Gallery, London. Swenbeck received a B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1991. His work is in the West Collection at SEI Investments and the Altoids® Curiously Strong Collection.