SABOT 1963

This is 'Sabot', a sculpture made by Alexander Calder, whose spiky mobiles make me think of a kind of 3D cubism mixed with wind power. Here, instead of a mobile, we have a standing form made of flat, black metal, like a drawing in space. You can see the artist's hand in the shapes, but also in the way the surfaces have been worked and the physical presence of the object as it occupies space. This particular blackness gives a boldness to the piece, a feeling of the industrial made artful. The silhouette is really striking. The big, sweeping curve at the bottom is balanced by that vertical spike, like a minimalist figure in motion. I can't help but see a connection with Joan Miró's playful, abstract figures. They share that same sense of humor and lightness. But, where Miró used colour, Calder used form and space, showing us that art is just an ongoing conversation between artists, each offering their own unique perspective.