About the Work
Alexander Calder paints abstract pictures in the air. Freed from gravity, thin discs balance in the space as if by magic. A light breath of air and the mobile begins its shaky dance. Calder saw himself as a choreographer, yet could not control the multifaceted dynamics of his works. The performative objects brilliantly integrate both movement and time into his art. In addition to old models of our solar system and mechanical toys, an important source of his inspiration was a visit to the Paris studio of Piet Mondrian in 1930. From this point onwards the American artist built "mobiles", a term Marcel Duchamp coined the following year when he saw these ethereal apparitions. While Calder initially used found pieces of glass and wood in the spirit of Dadaism and Surrealism, he constructed ever larger kinetic sculptures and fitted them with geometric elements. The asymmetric constructions seduce the viewer with their playful lightness, and incessantly leave invisible, poetic traces in space.
