Circle I 1962

David Smith made this sculpture, Circle I, out of painted steel. It’s hard to pin down a date, but the material and the direct approach scream mid-century. Look at how the rough, matte surfaces create a straightforward feel. This guy’s not hiding anything! The bolted-together bars sit like puzzle pieces – a horizontal cap, a tilted brace, all orbiting a peachy ring. The way Smith assembles these elements, it's like drawing in space, using industrial materials as his marks. The real kick, though, is how he gets this hulking steel to float like a thought bubble. It’s a testament to seeing geometry as possibility and the interplay of line and volume as a way to make something solid sing. He’s doing something that you see other steel sculptors like Anthony Caro do, but Smith brings a uniquely American, almost vernacular sensibility to abstraction. It’s like jazz, but in metal.