The Albany International Airport Gallery

The Albany International Airport Gallery has existed since 1998. Its exhibits have attracted over one hundred and fifty thousand visitors annually with a wide range of thematic content and visual display. This particular gallery is composed of a two thousand five hundred foot space, and it overlooks the busy airport below creating for a somber and isolated environment that hovers over a hectic environment. The Albany International Art Gallery is one of the premier exhibitions in the capital region, and is highly regarded by travelers and the regional arts community.
Upon my visit to the Albany International Airport Gallery, my attention was grabbed before I even entered the exhibit by a wall of folded scarves. These scarves were of all different colors and were definitely eye catching. I took a picture with the scarves behind me, and stuffed my own scarf in between the scarves to make it appear as if the one scarf was jumping out of the sculpture around my neck. Unfortunately, by the time I visited this gallery, the previous exhibit had already been dismantled. On the bright side, I was able to go in and talk to the individuals who are responsible for setting up the next exhibit. By talking to these experts about the exhibits, it was clear to see that deciding how to present the art in the exhibit is one of the hardest parts of the showing. They had to take into account what would match, which pieces would complement the others and the practicality of the placement of each of the installations’ effect on the viewer. They seemed to be having a hard time trying to measure everything perfectly in order to get it to fit where they wanted it, and the stress of this seemed to be getting to them. Nevertheless, they explained to me the basis for the next exhibit, and proceeded to show me the different installations.
The exhibits for the upcoming show at the Albany International Art Gallery are mostly architectural. Some of these architectural pieces are drawings that have three dimensional looks to them, and are shaded in a way that deceives the viewer. It seems that the drawings are coming off of the paper and are actual three dimensional objects. The other exhibits are made of recycled products such as beer cans, soda cans, water bottles, cardboard rolls, straws, duct tape and other plastics and fabrics. I believe the theme of the next show is recyclable products. One of my favorite things in the show was the sculpture that was made of plastic bottles. The bottled were all intertwined forming a sort of web chain. What was particular interesting about this piece is the way that the bottles were connected. There were no sticking agents on the bottles, yet the bottles had small slits in them in which pieces of another bottle were weaved into it, connecting them all together without using anything other than the bottles themselves. I appreciate the difficulty of this because it would have been easy to tape or glue these bottles together, but instead the artist decided to use only one material and weave it together to form a sculpture. Another exhibit I liked was displayed in a glass case right at the entrance of the show. It was a bunch of straws all woven together in a way that made a very unique sculpture. To me it resembled an abstract bicycle. I am not sure if that is what it was meant to be, but it was a unique sculpture nonetheless. There were many other interesting and colorful exhibits in the show, each of them with a recyclable and architectural theme to them.
Going to the Albany International Art Gallery was a very exciting experience. I hope to visit again in the future to see an exhibit when it is complete. Although I did not get to see the exhibit after its completion, by watching the work that goes into setting it up and by talking to the experts who were in charge of arranging the show, I was able to conclude that half of the art is the actual piece of art and the other half is how it is presented. The dedication of certain installations to certain areas definitely has an impact on the viewer and is the reason for such an intricate development process. The exhibits themselves were very intriguing and astonished me with their craftsmanship. Seeing this exhibition in progress was a new and enlightening experience for me.