Blue Feather 1948

Alexander Calder, sometime in the mid-century, fabricated this delightful, mobile sculpture from wire and painted metal. I can imagine him in his studio, carefully balancing each element, adjusting the weights until the whole thing floats in perfect equilibrium. I wonder, did he ever feel frustrated by the endless tweaking, the need for absolute precision? Probably not. I see Calder as a playful artist, one who embraced the trial and error of the process. Each piece probably suggests a different character - a dancer, a bird, a strange mechanical creature. The dark triangle supporting the floating figures looks to me like a solid anchor for the colourful shapes to dance around. The shapes hang still and balanced like a single feather floating in the wind. Calder’s work reminds us that art doesn’t always need to be serious or heavy-handed. He, like many artists, shows how creative expression is just another form of thinking.