Albert Paley might be 66, but his career shows no signs of slowing down. Local art lovers can sample the fruits of the Man of Steel's overdrive lifestyle at two exhibits next month.

The Memorial Art Gallery will feature more than 50 of Paley's sculptures and drawings from the last decade. The Nan Miller Gallery will display his tables, lamps and other functional pieces. Meanwhile, he's choosing pieces for an international touring show that will explore his entire career. And because new commissions keep piling up, he'll move his workshop in June from downtown Rochester to a huge industrial space on Lyell Avenue.

But for the first time, his fans can see a large sampling of his 21st-century work at the Memorial Art Gallery exhibit opening May 2. This was (director) Grant Holcomb's idea," Paley recalls. "We've had many conversations over a long period of time. This will be the biggest local exhibit I've had."

Many visitors will be curious how "new Paley" style compares to the old. It's not an easy question because Paley sees his artistic growth as a gradual transformation. Some of his early pieces feature graceful, organic forms in harmoniously balanced structures. His more

recent sculpture tends to be ruggedly dynamic, abstract and often massive in scale.

But the man who organized Paley's new exhibit finds certain qualities running through his entire output. "His large sculptures conjoin monumentality and strength with a true grace and beauty," says Holcomb, Memorial Art Gallery's director. "The term 'lyrical power' characterizes this quality for me."

Fans who want to take home a Paley keepsake should head to a second show opening May 7. The Nan Miller Gallery at 3450 Winton Place will offer his useable art, from $2,000 candlesticks to costlier home accessories.

"He was at my gallery eight months ago and mentioned the MAG exhibit," recalls Miller, the gallery's founder. "Then we started brainstorming. I asked him, 'How about doing an exhibit of functional pieces at my place?'"

She decided to make it a family show by including fine-art photos by Paley's wife, Frances, who has a growing reputation in Europe and the United States.

Like many Rochester artists, Paley is more openly appreciated outside his hometown. He's winning commissions from Canada to Mexico for mega-sculptures sure to dominate their cities' skylines.

"The momentum of my career is picking up," says Paley, with the cautious enthusiasm of a marathon runner told he must race five extra miles. "More commissions are coming in, also exhibitions. So much is going on, the intensity is hard to explain."

On the average, he creates two jumbo-sized sculptures and 50 smaller ones a year. Somewhere on the planet, a gallery or museum opens a Paley show every month.

His latest project, Odyssey, consists of four steel sculptures, each crowning a post of the bridge over Interstate 80 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Ranging in height from 35 to 55 feet, they'll tower over the prairies approaching to Omaha, Neb.

Paley's giant sculptures are entering American cities at a time when many taxpayers feel there are more urgent spending priorities. Paley is well aware of this sentiment, and frequently lectures about public art as a transformative experience.

"It's a hot topic, because public money goes into it," he says. "But art and landscaping have always played an important role in city planning. People ask, 'Is this a place where I want to raise my children?'"

"People love them or hate them, with not much in between," says Paley. "Let's face it, a lot of people like to stay in their own comfort zone. Every community is provincial by its nature."

Watching Paley at work can be inspiring and slightly hellish. He attacks twisted metal beams with hammers and tongs, sending showers of sparks to the floor. The red-hot steel seems alive beneath the focused violence of his strokes. His gray ponytail and weathered features make him look like an aging hippie. A true stoner might see him as a New Age Jacob, wrestling with his steel angel.

Yet he runs his studio like an unsentimental businessman, micromanaging every facet of production — from models to high-tech assembly. "I'm pretty hands-on with my work," he says. "Even on weekends, I'm doing drawing and design."

His overstuffed regimen came to a sudden halt on July 26, 2002. He was cutting a piece of metal with a blowtorch when a gas line burst, igniting his clothes. He was rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital with burns on his head, left arm, chest and legs.

Reports on his condition were sparse during the long weeks in intensive care. Now that his long recovery is complete, he's willing to talk about his experience.

"I came close to dying," he says. "I was on total life support. It took a couple of operations and a lot of physical therapy — a long road to healing. I had to wear a glove on my left hand because of the scar tissue."

Though his work remains intrinsically high-risk, he believes that his future studio will have first-rate safety conditions. In June, he'll move into the former Valeo building at 1555 Lyell Ave. His longtime studio at 25 N. Washington St. is too small to sustain his career's explosive growth. Cavernous as an airplane hangar, the new workplace will quintuple the space available for his 16-member crew.

"This is a huge move," says Paley. "We're already doing demolition and rehabbing."

No one knows Paley's high-intensity working style better than Joe Klein, CEO of Klein Steel.

Paley uses this metal service center for projects that are literally cutting edge. New techniques are put to the test on tight deadlines. And the high pressure can expose Paley's best and worst sides.

"Albert demands perfect craftsmanship," says Klein. "But if you're trying something new, the learning curve may be more painful than you expect." As deadlines draw near, Paley's perfectionism can result in cliffhanger finishes. His anxious sponsors put up with it, because they love his work.

"I'm not saying Albert's an adrenaline junkie," says Klein. "But he likes the creative process to be stormy at times. "If things blow up, he's realistic about what needs to be done. He's absolutely fair and one of the most intelligent guys I've ever met."

Ironically, one of the last times "things blew up" was when Paley made Threshold — the 67 foot high sculpture that Klein commissioned to sit in front of his company at 105 Vanguard Parkway.

Despite the controversy that he seems to court, Paley gets a slew of awards — some from unlikely places. For instance, he won the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. This prize always goes to architects, but the group cited the architectural qualities of Paley's designs

A few weeks ago, he won an Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia. Paley has never worked or exhibited in Sweden, but his Swedish ancestry evidently carried the day.

And in 2012, the prestigious Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., will hold a 50-year retrospective of his work. The show will travel to the famed Victoria and Albert Museum in London. "I'm already starting to gear up for that one," says Paley.

With his international reputation, Paley over the years has often been asked why he bases his career in Rochester rather than a major arts center such as Manhattan. He never wavers in his response.

"I couldn't have done this in New York City with its high overhead," he insists. "Rochester has been very supportive. It's a very vital place with lots of subcontractors and metalworking facilities. I couldn't ask for more."