Four Pyramids and Sun 1973

Alexander Calder made this gouache on paper work, Four Pyramids and Sun, sometime around 1973. Calder is known for his mobiles, those delicate balancing acts in space, but here he’s playing with a flat world of shapes and colors. The colors are bold and primary, straight to the point, laid down with an immediacy that reminds me of children's book illustrations. The texture is smooth, like it was applied quickly, with confidence, in single strokes. Look at the big red sun, how the arms are not perfectly symmetrical. It looks like he filled it in with a thick brush, letting the shape be guided by the movement of his hand. I love how these simple forms come together to create a little world, a conversation between the solid, grounded pyramids and the expansive, energetic sun. It brings to mind other artists who distilled the world into basic shapes, like Joan Miró or maybe even some of the early abstract expressionists. It shows how art is just a continuous exchange, an ongoing experiment with what shapes and colors can do.