Calder Exhibit

I spent the 2nd day of 2014 going to the LA County Museum of Art with artist Nadia Rolden and saw the special exhibit of Alexander Calder.  Though I learned about Calder in school, there were new things that I learned such as the fact that he got an engineering degree, which is evident that he used his knowledge of mechanics in his entire body of work. He also loved making toys and made his first wire toys at age 11. I especially found his "circus" fascinating, where he created a little circus show with wire sculptors that performed. He was also friends with many famous of abstraction and surrealism such as Miró, Mondrian, and Duchamp which you can see very much influenced his sculpture. His interpretation of things in nature is very simplified, yet beautiful in such works as "Blue Feather" and "Eucalyptus" and I saw many parts of nature in his metal forms such as orchids and planets. Seeing art like this helps remind me that artists observe the world from unique place, bring it to fruition in art form by stylizing or simplifying, and others can then dare to see from their perspective.

Sketch of "Blue Feather"

Alexander Calder with Eucalyptus (1940), 1940, Calder Foundation, New York