ALBERT PALEY
My basic approach is to clarify and make visible aspects unique to iron and steel through the creative process. The resulting form vocabulary becomes the basic construct for a work philosophy and design theory unique to ferrous metalworking.
It was the plasticity of iron and steel that initially fascinated and attracted me. This inherent characteristic served as a catalyst to the experimentations that gave me an understanding of these materials resulting in a design approach founded in paradox. The dichotomous nature of these materials is that they present opposite and seemingly contradictory states at the same time and place: movement and stagnation, rigidity and plasticity. The tool imprints, incises, tears, twists and burns, leaving a record of the evolutionary nature of process and form development. Movement basic to the organic, of which we are all a part, is made visible in steel. This becomes a foil to human gesture, resulting in empathy and anticipation through this visual dialogue.
