Butterfly on Spiral 1966

Alexander Calder made this ink on paper drawing, "Butterfly on Spiral," in 1966. Look at how he’s laid down the ink, all playful and improvisational, like a jazz riff. It makes me think of how art-making is always a process of discovery, a kind of free-form conversation with the materials. The way Calder uses color here, so bold and graphic, is amazing. The yellow butterfly is like a little sun, buzzing with life against the stark black lines. And those blue shapes with the red tips! They're so solid, so there. The materiality of the ink is evident in the varying thickness of the lines and the slight bleeds into the paper. It’s like he's letting the ink do its thing, embracing the accidents. Calder reminds me a bit of Joan Miró, both using this playful, almost childlike language to express something profound about form and space. It's a reminder that art doesn't need to be serious to be serious, you know? It can be a big, beautiful, colorful question mark.