| art.description.project | A celebrated modernist from Pennsylvania, USA, has arrived at Steneby and the Röhsska Museum. We are happy with our collaboration with Steneby - The School of Craft and design, University of Gothenburg, which has made this possible. Albert Paley is an artist and craftsman specializing in iron. His approach to this material is that of a composer's approach to sound. Sensible to its plasticity and pliability, he gives us the impression that this iron hard material can play any notes, under the right conductor. The fact that Paley started out working with gold might partially explain his ability to master any material without constricting respectfulness. At the Röhsska Museum, we are presenting a selection of Albert Paley,s masterpieces along with the result of his Artist in Residence at Steneby in October 2011. Paley's career of thirty years as an artist combined with his teaching experience has been a very fortunate resource for the students at the school, and we are proud to show the result of their cooperation at the museum in 2012. Blacksmithing has a natural place in the history of the Röhsska Museum and is well represented in our collections. The Albert Paley exhibition makes an excellent addition to this tradition. When looking at Paley's work, I think of Art Noveau and metro entrances in late nineteenth century Paris; his public artwork seem like giant jewels to me, scaled to fit the architecture. The formal aspect is highly interesting, and I see parallels in fashion as well as crafts, making this an especially interesting time to exhibit Albert Paley's iron sculptures at the Röhsska Museum. Futurist paintings of moving figures or sculptured fashion creations from the golden age of haute couture around 1960. Transformers, dinosaurs and videogames. The fact that the time of 1960 is viewed as influential for the early 21st century might offer some explanation as to the current interest in Paley's abstract sculpture. Ted Hesselbom, Museum Director, the Röhsska museet. | sv |
