Mason + Verostko: Truth Seekers

Opening Thursday, October 1

Verostko + Mason: Truth Seekers brings together the work of Roman Verostko and Frank Mason, two artists working contemporaneously in New York City and beyond. The exhibition features six works from each artist, spanning several different eras in their careers from the 1960’s-1980’s. Verostko and Mason, whose styles diverge dramatically, shared a focus on the spiritual, as well as a desire to uncover truths that surround their daily experiences with both humanity and nature. Through an examination of paintings and drawings made at various life stages, viewers will also come to see modes of making that were not widely popular at the time of their production, providing an opportunity to re-examine catalytic artworks made beyond the center of the art world. 

The inclusion of works from three distinct periods in Verostko’s career--his New City series, Eikon paintings, and early Algorist pen-plotter drawings--offer a wide view of his lifelong search for spiritual and humanistic meaning through art and later, algorithm. Both Verostko and Mason seek truth through their work, using religiosity as a starting point for exploration. While Verostko eventually does leave the path of religious doctrine and ultimately finds sanctuary in nature as a place for meditation and reflection on the mysteries of life; both artists probe ideas of truth, beauty, spirituality, and the natural world which brings the works in dialog to explore how environment and a lifelong desire for knowledge create new modes of representation. Verostko + Mason: Truth Seekers expands our notion of history, bringing the periphery into sharper focus, revealing two artists seeking to understand the world around them.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Verstko Center for the Arts at Saint Vincent College. 

About the artists:

Frank Mason (Cleveland, OH, 1921 - 2009, New York, NY) was a prominent classical painter who worked and taught at the Art Students League in New York City for nearly five decades. Mason was fascinated with the technical aspects of Renaissance painting and was a passionate arts educator. He would travel to Italy many times throughout his life, though New York City was his home. Still life’s, landscapes, religious scenes, and portraits were Mason’s favored subject matter. Mason received many esteemed commissions during his lifetime including commissioned portraits for Bishop John Cardinal Wright of the Vatican and Prince Giocomo Colonna of Venice. He worked for the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta who odered a commission of eight paintings depicting the life of Saint Anthony of Padua. 

Roman Verostko (Tarrs, PA 1929 - 2024, Minneapolis, MN) was a co-founder of the Algorists, a group of artists who pioneered computer art and who employed original algorithms to generate their work. Verostko attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh from 1947 - 1949 and entered the Saint Vincent Archabby in 1950. After nine years as an ordained priest, Verostko left the monestary in 1968 and joined the humanities faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Starting in 1970, Verostko’s practice turned solely to the use of algorithms, computers, and machines to generate his artwork. His work is included in numerous public collections and has been the subject of over one-hundred exhibitions nationally and internationally.