Oignon et Navets 1965

Alexander Calder, sometime in his life, made this gouache, “Oignon et Navets”. The onion and turnips of the title are more like abstracted botanical forms, or, even better, like characters in a play. The colors here are like primaries gone slightly wrong. Not wrong, but weird. The red is tomato soup red, the yellow is lemon, the blue is, well, just blue. Look at how the red shape is crossed by quick black lines, almost like some censorship is being applied. And the yellow, what is that? A hairy potato? A misshapen gourd? I love the way Calder just lets his hand wander, there's no second guessing. His work reminds me of Miró, another artist who reveled in biomorphic shapes and a playful approach to artmaking. This piece, like much of Calder's work, embraces the joy of experimentation and the endless possibilities of abstraction. What a refreshing thing to see.