Robert Montgomery at Buffalo AKG

The Hi-Vis exhibition is an ‘invitational survey’ of artists who have collaborated with the Buffalo AKG since the inception of its public art initiative in 2013. Montgomery’s work is the first ever commission for the window above the entrance to the Jeffrey E. Gundlach building, and he proudly notes that it is ‘the first piece made for the space.’

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum has long been committed to public art, launching an initiative in 2013 in partnership with Erie County and the City of Buffalo. The programme includes over sixty works, ranging from murals to sculptures, all contributing to a stronger sense of shared landscape and striving to make Western New York the hub for transformative public art. As part of this initiative, Curator Aaron Ott reached out to Montgomery in 2018, and under his direction, the museum acquired The Stars Pulled Down for Real. The new commission of All Palaces Are Temporary Palaces builds on the museum’s ongoing dialogue with Montgomery.

The Stars Pulled Down for Real has been exhibited off-site in downtown Buffalo since 2023. The poem, penned by Montgomery, reads: ‘Squares and squares of flame with memory // Inside them remembering the map under the // Flood Water/Twist up the heartsongs of the // Dead into empty stadiums and all the stars // Pulled down for real.’ The Seattle Review of Books reflected that perhaps Montgomery was urging us to ‘find the beauty in the world we’re in the process of discarding.’ Reflecting on his advertisement-style works and these interventionist poems in unassuming places, a narrative of a post-Utopian world emerges, where busy roads and lurid messages intersect, but the grind of daily life continues. Situated opposite the Just Buffalo Library Center and the Western New York Books Art Center, the work engages in the ongoing literary and artistic conversation fostered by the city’s cultural institutions. Montgomery has said, ‘My basic apprehension of cities is that they are magical sculptures that we live in.’ His light works and billboard poems, often placed in key advertising spaces, seek to disrupt the constant noise of the city and challenge the dominance of corporate messages.

All Palaces Are Temporary Palaces achieves a similarly disruptive feat, though this time from within the museum’s walls. For Montgomery, it was important that the work could be read both inside and outside of the space, blurring the line of public intervention and sculptural light work and resonating within the social and political landscape that it occupies. The lineage of Montgomery’s words adds to the rich narrative that underpins his practice. A first iteration of this piece was debuted at the Venice Biennale in 2011, where it formed part of an exhibition entitled Orientale curated by Shwetal Patel. This exhibition challenged Western perceptions of Eastern cultures by showcasing diverse art that addressed the complexity of cultural identities and histories. Montgomery's work was later adapted to fit unique environments, including a swimming pool in East Berlin (2012) and then reworked at a far larger scale for Cardiff Contemporary (2016), where it was displayed atop a car park.

Discussing the connotations of the work, and some of the visual decisions, comparison was made to the lettering of the light piece with those of Trump Tower. The words stretch across three brackets, and the width measures just over four metres. Each of the letters are capitalised, and use Montgomery’s familiar trademarked font, which accents the ‘A’s above the other letters. The brass that enshrines the letters is perfectly gold, with buffed flat surfaces that accentuate its mirrored properties. On the face of the work, filament lightbulbs break through the metal surface, rearing only the bulb as it sits against the surface. The intended effect of the bulb-brass contact ensures optimal luminosity, as the light and mirror work in perfect harmony. Trump Tower, by contrast, while an iconic sign, lacks many of these intricacies. The association is somewhat undeveloped, the key similarities really being in colour and clarity. Montgomery prefers to lean into the association, understanding that its geographical location somewhat determines this connection anyway. Using it to his advantage, he notes that this only reinforces the piece’s critique on wealth and politics, and the visual similarity speaks to the fragility of political structures that are upheld by individuals using excessive wealth to elevate their political status and challenge democratic processes. Montgomery adds that ‘we should remind ourselves that power is, or should be, temporary […] and that humility is a crucial element of a peaceful human society.’

The work can also be read, as argued by art historian Fabio Barry, as a ‘Vanitas’ piece. From 17th Century Flemish origins, this type of work concerns subjects that centre themes of futility of material desires and observe themes that reflect on the ephemerality of life. In many vanitas works, candles act as symbols of life – and here, light takes on that onus. As a work reflective of existence and passing an important message of humility and compassion, the words read as more human in this association. Barry’s comparison is also significant when considering Montgomery's medium choice. Brass reflects the light with a warm golden hue, symbolizing both the allure and the fragility of power. Brass is corrosion-resistant, malleable, and can withstand extreme temperatures, reinforcing the theme of impermanence and the tension between permanence and transience within the piece.

Public art creates space for reflection and conversation, and Montgomery’s pieces become more than just visual statements, they provoke introspection on personal, political and social levels. As Fad Magazine wrote in 2016 on Montgomery’s work of the same name made for the parking lot in Cardiff, ‘Art interrupts public journeys with moments of beautiful and bombastic reflection.’