Deux Angles Droits 1971

Alexander Calder made this playful sculpture, *Deux Angles Droits,* at an unknown date with sheet metal and wire. It’s so clearly his style, isn’t it? I can imagine him in his studio, bending the wire, cutting the metal with snips, and painting everything in those happy primary colours. It seems he has let some white and orange grounds emerge, contrasting with the black, blue and white components. You can see where the blue paint has dripped from the edge of the top circle. There’s a real sense of lightness here. The piece is anchored, yet it defies gravity, hovering just above the ground, like a mirage. Calder's work reminds me of Joan Miro's paintings and drawings; they both work in a surrealist-inflected visual language of biomorphic abstraction. These artists share an interest in the spontaneous and intuitive creation of form. Ultimately, Calder's sculpture reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation—one where ideas bounce back and forth across time, inspiring new forms of expression. We carry on, finding fresh ways to express the ambiguous and uncertain nature of being.