Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calderwas an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of moving sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to touch or air currents. Calder’s monumental stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced wire figures, which are like drawings made in space, and notably a miniature circus work that was performed by the artist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSculptor
Date of Birth22 July 1898
CityLawnton, PA
CountryUnited States of America
The underlying sense of form in my work has been the system of the Universe, or part thereof...What I mean is that the idea of detached bodies floating in space, of different sizes and densities, perhaps of different colors and temperatures, and surrounded and interlarded with wisps of gaseous condition, and some at rest, while others move in peculiar manners, seems to me the ideal source of form.
When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise!
My fan mail is enormous. Everyone is under six.
Above all, art should be fun.
If you can imagine a thing, conjure it up in space then you can make it... The universe is real but you can't see it. You have to imagine it. Then you can be realistic about reproducing it.
To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect.
To most people who look at a mobile, it's no more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry.
Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions.
The universe is real, but you can't see it. You have to imagine it.
The universe is real, but you can't see it. You have to imagine it.
A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move, propelled by electric motors, wind, water or by hand.
A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move, propelled by electric motors, wind, water or by hand.
I love red so much, I almost want to paint everything red.
I love red so much, I almost want to paint everything red.