Alexander Calder Quotes

Alexander Calder — American Sculptor born on July 22, 1898, died on November 11, 1976

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of moving sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to touch or air currents. Calder’s monumental stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced wire figures, which are like drawings made in space, and notably a miniature circus work that was performed by the artist... (wikipedia)

To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect.

Why must art be static? You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect, but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion.

The underlying sense of form in my work has been the system of the universe, or part thereof. For that is a rather large model to work from.

I have been making wire jewelry - and think I'll really do something with it, eventually.

Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions.