Double Nautilus 1973

Alexander Calder made "Double Nautilus" with paint, and a playful spirit. Look at the way he allows the colors to butt up against each other, those blues, yellows and oranges just *ping*. For Calder, it's all about the back and forth, pushing and pulling, like building a circus out of wire and color. The textures are so immediate, you can almost feel the bristles of the brush dancing across the surface. The paint isn't trying to hide itself; it's just hanging out there, being itself. Notice the black lines spiralling into the center of each nautilus. They are thick, uneven, human. They aren't trying to be perfect, and that's the whole point. It's like he's winking at us, saying, "Hey, let's not take ourselves too seriously." You could see Miro doing something like this, that same interest in play and the found image. In art, everything talks to each other, it's one big conversation!