Albee curates show at VCU's Anderson Gallery

By Lissette Linares

RICHMOND, Va. – After thrilling the world with "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" and "Three Tall Women," Edward Albee, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, will thrill again – this time in the art world.

Albee, an art collector for more than 40 years, has curated an exhibition of more than 30 works by nine sculptors. "From Idea to Matter: Nine Sculptors" will be shown exclusively at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Anderson Gallery, 907 ½ Franklin St. The show will open at 7 p.m. Oct. 20 and run through Dec. 17.

While works range from room-size installation pieces to smaller sculptures of wood, plaster, Plexiglass and other materials, Albee says the selected artists share certain traits. "They all exhibit excellence, sureness, individuality, adventurousness, and above all, a hands-on quality of the work," Albee said. "It’s clear evidence of the artist making the art – molding, carving, manipulating and intruding. There is no theoretical work here, no work that is merely idea. Sculpture is worked through idea to matter."

Sculptors featured in "From Idea to Matter" are both young and old, known and fairly unknown in the art world. They include John Beech, John Duff, David Fulton, Barry Goldberg, David McDonald, Richard Nonas, Mia Westerlund Roosen, Jonathan Thomas and Paul Whiting.

Albee acquired the first of many art works – a painting by Richmond artist David Wurtzel – from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the 1960s, while in town to deliver a lecture at the University of Richmond. It is Albee’s longstanding friendship with Ted Potter, Ph.D., director of VCU’s Anderson Gallery, that has brought him back to Richmond. Potter invited him to curate a VCU exhibition.

"Over the years I’ve known Mr. Albee, I have gained a deep respect for his knowledge and grasp of the visual arts," Potter said. "The nine artists he has selected for this important exhibition are highly accomplished and innovative."

Albee chose to curate an exhibition showcasing sculptural works by artists who intrigued him."Sculpture is less popular (with viewers) than painting, I suspect, because it asks a more complex suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer, or perhaps, a more adventuresome mind," Albee said. "But sculpture’s rewards are in many ways deeper, by way of its vital presence."

Outstanding sculpture, he added, takes the viewer beyond the materials – metal, wood, or another substance – into metaphor, through imagination and visualization. Albee said that is true of the works he has selected.

"From Idea to Matter" is the largest of several exhibitions Albee has curated during his lifetime.

A special exhibition full-color catalog will be available at the opening. The exhibition and publication are made possible in part through the support of VCU’s School of the Arts and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development in Doha.

The Anderson Gallery is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m. For details, call the gallery at (804) 828-1522.