WHO: Robinson Fredenthal

WHAT: Off the Wall: Current Work by Robinson Fredenthal.

A Special Exhibition

WHERE: Kroiz Gallery, Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, 220 S. 34th St.

WHEN: May 11 through Sept. 30

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, weekends by appointment. Open Penn's Alumni Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

EVENT: Opening reception, May 11, 5-7 p.m. RSVP at 215-898-8323

Robinson Fredenthal's archives -- thousands of complicated paper models documenting a lifetime of his geometric explorations -- have been donated to the Architectural Archives at Penn, and many of these will be on display in a new exhibition, "Off the Wall." The title refers to his studio walls that have been reconstructed in the Archives' Kroiz Gallery. The exhibition will run from May 11 through Sept. 30.

Fredenthal, an alumnus of Penn's Graduate School of Fine Arts, is also the artist who designed "Black Forest," the monumental stabile installed at the entrance to Penn's campus on the lawn near Walnut and 34th streets.

Although among the most brilliant designers in his architecture class, Fredenthal was stricken with Parkinson disease while a student. In its early stages, the disease deprived him of his ability to draw. Over the years it has rendered him virtually disabled physically; however, his intellect and vision are unaffected.

Despite the relentless progression of his disease, Fredenthal has amassed an extraordinary body of public art. In addition to Penn's Black Forest, there are a number of other major public sculptures in Philadelphia including those at One Franklin Plaza, PNC Bank at 5th and Market streets, 1234 Market Street East, 8th and Spring Garden streets and the Mantua Community Center Branch Library. He also has public work in other cities, including Allentown, Pa.; the University of Maryland at Towson; and Penn Square Center in Reading Pa. Also, there are a large number of private collectors who have acquired his work. The Locks Gallery in Philadelphia has featured his work, which has been widely exhibited.