Tacoma, Washington
“Complementary Contrasts,” a survey of Albert Paley’s glass and steel sculptures since his initial residency at Pilchuck Glass School in 1998 (on view through September 3, 2018), brings together a body of work that bolsters his reputation as a maker of more than large-scale public art. The 29 works on show reveal a surprising intimacy of scale and delicacy of line and mass. Since it is impossible to do a similar survey of Paley’s public art projects, located throughout the U.S. and in Mexico, this exhibition, which also features 14 monotypes, drawings, and prints, is an especially helpful contribution to understanding a prolific but maverick artist. Like Frank Stella in his later period–fitting into nothing familiar, following no one–Paley has created small-scale objects that parallel his huge constructions, such as the 24 sculptures installed on Park Avenue in New York (2015), but synthesize and extend some of the themes.…see the entire review in the print version of June’s Sculpture magazine.
