ALEXANDER CALDER: MOBILES

Calder’s mobiles, abstract, kinetic sculptures designed to move freely in space, communicated better than any art that came before them that along with form, mass, time and space, movement is an essential factor that defines the physical universe. 

His seemingly endless ability to innovate, along with his love of hard work, made him one of Modernism’s most influential artists, as well as one of its most universally beloved.

After a decade of drawing classes he had come to see that by using thin strands of wire as a sculptural medium, he was adding the concept of line to sculpture, a revolutionary act that he called “drawing in space.”

“Nothing at all of this is fixed “Nothing at all of this is fixed. Each element able to move, to stir, to oscillate, to come and go in its relationships with the other elements in its universe.” -Alexander Calder

As he once said to reporters while demonstrating the kinetic motion of one of his mobiles, “This has no utility and no meaning. It is simply beautiful. It has great emotional effect if you understand it. Of course if it meant anything it would be easier to understand but it would not be worthwhile.”

http://www.ideelart.com/module/csblog/post/232-1-alexander-calder-mobile.html CALDER MOBILE VIDEO (2 MIN 30 SEC)

PROJECT CRITERIA IN GROUPS OF 2, CREATE YOUR OWN MOBILE: IT MUST: HANG BALANCE HAVE 5 OR MORE OBJECTS ATTACHED MOVE (WITH BREEZE)