CONSTELLATION 1942

Alexander Calder, sometime in the mid-twentieth century, made this standing mobile, assembled from carved wood, wire, and paint. It's called 'Constellation,' and you can see why. I imagine Calder in his studio, carefully balancing each element, adjusting the wires, and responding to the slightest shifts in weight and tension. It's a dance between control and chance. Those wood shapes remind me of a painter’s palette, smeared with different hues. I can see the touch of his hand, the delicate curves, and the way each piece hangs in perfect equilibrium. Calder’s work always felt like a playful disruption of traditional sculpture, like a sketch in space that continues in the spirit of Miró and other surrealists. It invites us to see the world as a series of possibilities, a constellation of interconnected shapes and lines.