Cosmic Tic Tac Toe 1962

Alexander Calder made 'Cosmic Tic Tac Toe' using watercolor and ink on paper. It’s very immediate in its making, not labored over. The ink bleeds and pools, and the paper buckles slightly beneath the wash of color. Calder, best known for his mobiles, often made works on paper like this one. It was a way for him to generate ideas quickly, and probably served as a way for him to play with composition and color relationships. The shapes we see here are like a vocabulary – stars, suns, and geometric forms recur throughout his practice. There's an improvisational quality to the work. It captures a fleeting moment of creative invention, a snapshot of Calder’s dynamic mind at play. The title itself hints at this – a cosmic game, where the stakes are nothing less than the balance of the universe. It's a great reminder that creative expression doesn’t always have to be heavy or serious; sometimes, it can be as simple and joyful as a game.