Father Robert Keffer, O.S.B., director of The Saint Vincent Gallery, will present a one-person exhibit of 25 of his realist and surrealist oil paintings in the Gallery.
The exhibit, entitled The Ellipse of the Eclipse, will open with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26, featuring a talk by Fr. Robert. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be available.
The exhibit will continue through Sunday, May 13. Gallery hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and at other times by appointment. The Gallery, located on the third floor of the Robert S. Carey Student Center, is closed on Mondays. Admission is free and open to the public.
Father Robert, a Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, is an artist with a special interest in 20th century art history and the surrealist movement. He has been involved in an in-depth study of Salvador Dali, a prominent Spanish surrealist painter, in conjunction with representatives of the Salvador Dali Museum of St. Petersburg, Florida. In August 2017, he was a featured lecturer at the Dali Museum, presenting, “Go to the Desert, Go to the Devil: The Temptation of St. Anthony and the Desert Experience in the Art of Salvador Dali.”
Father Robert gave a lecture on April 7, 2017, at Saint Vincent on Dali entitled, “Spiraling Out to the Divine: The Fibonacci Sequence, DNA and the Fifth Dimension in the Religious Art of Salvador Dali.”
He also presented an art lecture and Power Point presentation on Feb. 1 at Saint Vincent titled, “The Chiaroscuro of God: Light and Shadow, Sin and Redemption in the Sacred Art of Michelangelo Merisi Di Caravaggio.” The talk explored the use of light and shadow, known as chiaroscuro, in the religious works of the Baroque Italian artist Caravaggio. He discussed not only the technical aspects of Caravaggio’s paintings but their deep spiritual significance as well.
Keffer is a painter and art lecturer, who is also in charge of the Saint Vincent art gallery. He serves as a chaplain at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital and is sacramental minister to St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s Catholic Churches in West Salisbury. He plans to continue his artistic education this summer at the Sotheby’s School of Art in New York City. Fr. Robert has served also as a retreatmaster and lecturer on art and Catholic spirituality. He plans to join the faculty of Saint Vincent College to teach art history in 2019.
He studied art at the former Ivy Institute of Art in Pittsburgh, the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia and with private instructors.
A native of Connellsville, he entered the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank in Sparta, Wisconsin, in 1989, made his solemn vows in 1993 and was ordained a priest in 1995.
He studied Biblical exogenesis and philosophy at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and at the Angelicum in Rome, Italy. His monastic formation took place at the Abbey of Hauterive in Switzerland. He transferred to Saint Vincent in May 2014.
At Saint Vincent, he has served as assistant director of the summer retreat program.
For more information, contact the Saint Vincent Gallery at 724-805-2197
Photo: The Autumnal Demiurge by Father Robert Keffer, O.S.B.