OCTOBER 2001
Albert Paley - master of public art
By Allys Palladino-Craig
Director, FSU Museum of Fine Arts
The definitive turning point in Albert Paley's career-from metalsmithing on the intimate scale to fabrication on the monumental scale of public artworks-came in 1973, when he won the commission for the gates of the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.
Now, works on both scales will be exhibited at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts-sculpture, drawings, maquettes (small models of larger works to come) and proposals for major commissions, decorative arts and prints. What all these expressions have in common-although conceived or completed in different ways-is the imprimatur of the artist, the virtual thumbprint of his design.
Since his early career, Paley has set his creative mind and
capable hand to a broad array of projects; they include the 260-foot
bridge railings for the Main Street Redevelopment Project of
Rochester, N.Y., as well as sculptural ornaments such as a gilt
opera-box handle for a Texas cultural complex.
He orchestrates a team of professionals at the studio he incorporated
in 1984. (He has had a substantial studio with a growing team
of assistants since 1972.)
Paley works from his original drawings and blueprints, making decisions to alter his design as he goes. He and his team use enormous and powerful machinery, forging, shaping and manipulating elements to create his titanic sculpture, heroic archways, massive gates, as well as human-scaled functional objects-ceremonial tables, desks or lamps.
The White House in Washington recently added Paley candlesticks to its collection, while Sony Pictures installed a Paley screen. Ceremonial gates have been commissioned by Florida State, the Renwick Gallery (Smithsonian), the New York State House (Albany), Arizona State University, the City of Philadelphia, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (Boston), the Naples Museum of Art (Florida)-and others.
Here in Tallahassee, beneath the north-facing arch of University Center, is Albert Paley's Stadium Gates, a project of the Art-in-State-Buildings Program.
In addition to his municipal projects, such as the 1980 tree grates and park benches for the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Corporation in Washington, D. C., the dynamic, complementary pylons he named Synergy-installed in 1987 for the Museum Towers of Philadelphia-have become signature works. Pairs of eight interior pylons completed in the same year for the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas, riffle in an imaginary wind, a steel metaphor of silken pennants, with heights of 15 to 30 feet and cantilevered metal ribbons that extend as far as 20 feet.
In 1994, in the catalogue of exhibition from the Memorial
Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Paley's influences were
cited as African, Japanese, Baroque, Rococo, Gothic Revival,
Art Nouveau and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
Paley leaped from small scale in the '70s to major commissions
like the 60-foot tall monotone steel Genessee Passage for the
Bausch & Lomb corporate headquarters in New York or the highly
polychromatic Olympia for the Atlanta Promenade II Building.
Such works demonstrate that his eye for color or changing shadow is unequivocal, his reach and scale commanding. There seem to be no limitations at his studio, not in terms of dimension, surface patina or articulation. He has achieved that goal of all independent artists, producing superb objects unlike any others, works that bear his distinctive hallmark.
His work is in permanent collections such as The British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Institution, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London-and, of course, Florida State University.
The exhibition-sponsored by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts-will travel from FSU to the Gulf Coast Museum in Largo, the Polk Museum in Lakeland and the Terrace Gallery of the City of Orlando.
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Albert Paley
Florida State University Center Gates