Aggressive Stabile 1962

Alexander Calder made this work, "Aggressive Stabile", in 1962 with gouache and ink on paper. What I notice right away are the dominant gestures and colors: a kind of rusty orange swirling around bold black lines that create the outlines of white shapes. I wonder about Calder making this. Did he quickly fill in the orange background, like a gesture of raw energy, letting it pool and swirl? The black lines are so confident and graphic, like Matisse cut-outs, that they make me think about the way one form can suggest another. Here the black-outlined white areas become objects, figures, or even architectural forms pushing against the orange ground. I can imagine Calder making his way around the page, improvising, allowing each shape to dictate the next. The title suggests something aggressive, maybe the way the shapes seem to jostle for space on the page. But look closer. There is a playfulness in the composition, a kind of give-and-take that feels like a conversation between forms. Calder was always so good at that. His influence is everywhere, and we are all constantly riffing off each other. It’s how art evolves.