The Downtown Albany Business Improvement District (BID) welcomes the late American kinetic sculptor George Rickey (1907 – 2002) as the featured artist for the 2011 Sculpture in the Streets, an outdoor art exhibition walking tour in downtown Albany. Referred to as a pioneer in kinetic sculpture, Rickey’s pieces come to life with the slightest breeze, making him a unique figure in contemporary art. Sculptures as large as 14 feet high and 22 feet wide are slated for the exhibition. The Art of a Kinetic Sculptor walking tour will begin on June 17 and run through March 2012. The exhibit and tour are free and open to the public. Walking tour maps will be available at area merchants, the Downtown Albany BID office at 40 North Pearl Street and online at downtownalbany.org.
“We could not be more excited to be hosting artwork of this caliber in downtown Albany,”
said Georgette Steffens, Executive Director at Downtown Albany BID, “Large scale, outdoor sculpture on loan from the Rickey Foundation is a very rare occurrence. In fact, the exhibit will be only the third of its kind in the United States in terms of collection, size and scope.”
The five visiting pieces from the Rickey Foundation are:
• Two Conical Segments Gyratory II
• Rectangles Horizontal Jointed Big, Thin, Small
• Three Squares Gyratory I
• Six Lines In A “T”
• Column of Four Squares Excentric Gyratory III.
The Capital Region is home to three publicly displayed Rickey pieces that will be incorporated into the walking art exhibition, including:
• The Albany Institute of History and Art (Etoile Variation V);
• Empire State Plaza (Two Lines Oblique); and
• The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Greene Building (Six Random Lines Excentric).
Friend of the late artist and art collector Matthew Bender said, “Downtown Albany is fortunate to exhibit sculpture by George Rickey whose studio is in East Chatham. George’s work is sought by museums and collectors from all over the World.”
Additional Rickey’s pieces can be found in the collections on the Rensselaer Polytechnic campus in Troy, the Schenectady Museum, as well as numerous private collections locally and worldwide. The current art installation at the Albany International Airport also features a ceiling sculpture by Rickey titled “Four Triangles Hanging” located behind the security check point.
To learn more, call 518-465-2143, or visit downtownalbany.org.