Table Piece XXVIII 1967

Anthony Caro made this "Table Piece XXVIII" from painted steel. Look at how he coaxes the steel into these quiet curves! It's all about that simple gesture, repeated, with a slightly awkward, but somehow elegant touch. You can feel the hand in it, even though it's metal. The muted brown is smooth, almost like a liquid skin, giving it this funny weightlessness despite its material. That upright cylinder leans on the curve, just enough to create this precarious tension. I think of artists like David Smith, who also worked in steel. But where Smith is monumental, Caro is intimate, like a private conversation in metal. It's this dance between balance and imbalance, a playful push and pull. It's not trying to be any one thing, which is what makes it so intriguing.