Languorous repose
Albert PALEY
USA born 199
Languorous repose 2013
Painted stainless steel
Conceived initially by Paley for a temporary installation of thirteen large-scale sculptures along the median strip of New York City’s Park Avenue, Languorous repose illustrates the artiste constructivist aesthetic of complex, abstract structures that do not actually move but imply a sense of motion and animation through gesture and balance.
Paley’s creative process begins with numerous drawings and cut-out paper and cardboard models The individual elements of these models are then scanned by computer to guide the making of a torch-cut steel model. This last model is the basis for fabricating the final, full-scale work. In reference to Paley’s Park Avenue sculptures, an interviewer once observed that “like the artist himself, these constructions have big personality and presence, yet they somehow remain nimble and accessible! While wholly abstract in nature, this work and others in the same series, could be said to involve ’empathetic’ or emotionally evocative forms whose fluid and often unexpected gestures recall those of bodies in motion.
Paley’s work is represented in many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. He has been responsible for some 50 site-specific commissions.