About Art - Synergy

Synergy is an outdoor structure consisting of two free-standing columns adorned with swirling banners and ribbon-like forms are installed on either side of the 18th Street driveway to Museum Towers. Each sculpture rests on its own circular concrete base. Each structure is approx. 20 ft. x 17 ft. 6 in. x 7 ft.; Bases: each approx. H. 2 ft. It was intended to be a ceremonial archway when it was built in 1987 by sculptor the American sculptor Albert Paley.

The sculpture was initiated by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia. The inscription on a nearby plaque reads: SYNERGY/A WORK BY ALBERT PALEY STUDIOS/ROCHESTER, NY/DEDICATED, NOVEMBER 6, 1987/MUSEUM TOWERS/1801 BUTTONWOOD STREET/PHILADELPHIA, PA 19130/THIS WORK WAS CARRIED OUT IN COOPERATION WITH THE REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA ONE PERCENT FINE ARTS PROGRAM/AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. IAS files contain an excerpt from Penny Balkin Bach's "Public Art in Philadelphia," Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992, pg. 256.

Albert Paley is a modernist American metal sculptor. He who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1944. He earned both a BFA and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Paley initially worked in New York City as an art jeweler, but moved to Rochester, New York in 1969 to teach at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he now holds an endowed chair. Paley's work is celebrated around the world. He has been heralded for his inventive approach to form development and metal technique, and has received numerous corporate and civic commissions.

Paley designed "Animals Always," his first representational work, a sculpture located at the southeast corner of the world-renowned St. Louis Zoological Park. Find out more about him and his work at www.albertpaley.com