May 6, 2018 through September 27, 2020
For the first time in more than 20 years, experience The Room Chapel by pioneering sculptor of light Stephen Antonakos. Originally created in 1996, this architectural installation featuring the artist’s Neon Panels will be specially recreated for the Allentown Art Museum. This work represents not only the realization of formal, geometric and spatial concerns explored throughout the artist’s career, but also recalls his early years in a small mountain village in Greece, where tiny chapels served the spiritual needs of people throughout the country. Antonakos said of this piece: “I am hoping to provide a space that visually and spatially may help us remember or rediscover our inner selves, our own individual thoughts, feelings and spirits.”
Featured photo: Stephen Antonakos (American, 1926-2013), The Room Chapel, 1996, painted walls, neon, 3 neon panels. Copyright © Stephen Antonakos Studio LLC.
Stephen Antonakos in His Own Words: 8 Readings
The Room Chapel is supported through the generosity and expertise of Duggan & Marcon Inc. Additional support has come from Roberson Butz Architects and Mitten Engineering Group. The exhibition program at the Museum is supported through the generosity of the Harry C. Trexler Trust, Julius and Katheryn Hommer Foundation, The Century Fund, Bernard and Audrey Berman Foundation, Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment, Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Friends of the Museum.