Form and Formless: Constellations of Knowledge

Opening Reception - October 18th from 6-9 PM.

Form Formless - Digital Exhibition Essay 

The diverse works from eighteen artists will be installed throughout the gallery to eschew singular storytelling and instantiate multiple narratives for our fourth and final exhibition of 2023. Taking as its point of departure the fact that glass as a material fluctuates between solid and liquid, Form and Formless meditates on the slipperiness rather than the fixity of categories of identity (such as gender, sexuality, and race, among others). The show presents artworks featuring glass, textiles, watercolors, paintings, projections, audio experience, and beyond, covering every surface of the Robert Lehman Gallery. The works are meant to cohere into constellations of knowledge metaphorically and then unravel and connect with other works to create different meanings, only for the process to begin again. In this way, the curatorial framework embodies the major theme of the entire year: "Forever Becoming". The exhibition includes works by Tsohil Bhatia, Paper Buck, Max Colby, Amy Cousins, Deborah Czeresko, Genevieve De Leon, Carmel Dor, Meg Dyer, Angel Favorite, Chitra Ganesh, Julia Kwon, Jessi Li, Ren Mahon, Abbey Muza, Wojciech Puś, Andrea Ray, Katie Shulman, and Shahzia Sikander. 

About the Curator-

Alpesh Kantilal Patel is associate professor of contemporary art at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia. His art historical scholarship, curating, and criticism reflect his queer, anti-racist, and transnational approach to contemporary art. He is the author of Productive Failure: Writing Queer Transnational South Asian Art Histories (2017) and is currently working on his monograph Multiple and One: Writing Queer Global Art Histories, under contract with Manchester University Press.

This exhibition was made possible by a Tyler School of Art and Architecture Grant-in-Aid award for Research and Creative Activity and by research funds as part of a Center for Humanities at Temple (CHAT) Faculty Fellowship from Temple University.

Event Images

Launch Full Gallery

Class Schedule

• October 18th – February 23rd, 2024