Penn State may be the epitome of a middle-class, suburban public university, but artists LeRoy Johnson and Theodore A. Harris are attempting to change that defining characteristic -- in the HUB-Robeson Center, at least.

Johnson and Harris will hold a reception for their exhibit Acrid Dialectic: The Visual Language of LeRoy Johnson and Theodore A. Harris from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday as part of First Thursday, a monthly arts event held at locations throughout Penn State and State College. Light refreshments will be served, and the artists will be present to answer questions about their work.

Both Johnson and Harris draw inspiration for their work from the inner-city life of blacks, said Bethany Van Velsor, publicist for the HUB Galleries.

"Our mission here is to display multicultural artists with different backgrounds and from different cities," Van Velsor said. "It's good to display it in the HUB because they're things that most people wouldn't normally see. It's especially great for students to see, because it deals with subjects they're probably studying in their classes."

While Johnson and Harris did not work together on this particular exhibit, each artist picked pieces that would complement the other's work, Van Velsor said.

"They deal with the same subject matter, and both are African American and from Philadelphia," Van Velsor said. "But they approach the subject differently. Theodore is more in your face about his opinions about race and inequality. LeRoy also deals with those opinions, but in a much quieter way."

Harris also noted the similarities between his collection and Johnson's.

"His work and my work speak back to each other -- visually and aesthetically," he said. "Ann Shields, who's in charge of the gallery, thought our work would be complementary. I think she's right."

Van Velsor said Harris calls him-

self a "confrontational collagist."

Harris explained that this is where the title for the exhibit originated.

"The acrid part is about the corrosiveness of dialogue," he said. "The truth is not prettied up; there are some hard truths evident in my work. It's a global issue."

Harris said he became interested in the art of collage years ago, when the American space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. He started cutting images out of the newspaper and then put a composition together about the clippings.

"The images become a dialogue. I take random images and create new images that have a new meaning," Harris said.

For Harris, creating a new image can happen simply by turning it around.

"I literally take one image and turn it on its head. In my work, the prominent image is the United States Capitol building turned upside down," he said.

Though Johnson also integrates collages into his work, he adds some different elements.

"Johnson is inspired by urban debris," Van Velsor said. "He combines elements of what we would call garbage and creates houses. Then he does a kind of collage with graffiti on the outside of the houses to represent what the ghetto is and how it looks."

Johnson described his work as "very universal" and tries to address current events in his work.

"Corporate America is conspiring to divide us all -- old people, young people, straight people, gay people ... And now, most people have blinders on while they're singing 'God Bless America,' " he said.

This is evident in Johnson's work because he doesn't try to mask the realities of inner-city life. Instead, he hopes his work helps form a vernacular of sorts for blacks.

"There ain't no little kid dressed in white going to church. There are no smiling, grinning people. I keep it for real, for real," he said.

For Johnson, the freedom of art has been a long time coming.

"I've come to the conclusion in my years of isolation as an artist that I don't have to follow traditions," he said. "I can identify with whatever I want."