Hooked Rug 1965

This is a Hooked Rug by Alexander Calder, and you can see how he’s used this medium to explore similar themes to those in his paintings and sculptures. The way that the colours are built up, dot by dot, with such simplicity, makes me think of the pointillist paintings of someone like Seurat. Only here, instead of paint, Calder is using thread, building up these vivid, dreamlike images on a textured surface. I love the way that the background colour peeps through in places. Look at how the black spots around the white, crescent-moon figure at the bottom right bleed into the orange of the carpet. They're imperfect and irregular, like the spots on an animal’s fur, and this gives the image a real energy. It reminds me that art isn’t about perfection, but about embracing mistakes and finding beauty in the unexpected. The conversation never ends!