Sliced Lemon 1963

Alexander Calder made this gouache with brushstrokes, where a bright yellow meets bold red and graphic black to create a joyful tension. Looking at these shapes, I imagine Calder in his studio, maybe with jazz on the radio, intuitively laying down these marks and seeing where they take him. The lemon slice sings with a hopeful energy. It reminds me of Matisse's cut-outs, that same sense of playful improvisation. There is a similar graphic punch, but with a more carefree hand. I'm drawn to the thick, almost cartoonish outline of the black squiggles floating above. It feels like a precursor to some of my own gestures – a way of making marks that are both solid and full of movement. It’s like he's asking: how can we keep painting fresh and alive? Calder’s ability to infuse a sense of dynamism into simple forms continues to inspire artists today. He is still in conversation with us, urging us to embrace the unexpected.