Yellow Swing 1965

Anthony Caro made this painted steel sculpture called Yellow Swing with welded and bolted construction, and you can really see the process. It's a burst of shapes and planes. What I find interesting here is the color – this matte, almost industrial yellow. It covers everything, unifying these disparate parts, but it doesn't hide the seams, the joins, the physicality of the metal. Look closely, you can see the evidence of Caro’s making process. The bolted construction is visible, it's all very upfront. The color isn't glossy or slick, it’s really a working color. There's a tension between the geometric forms and the sense of movement that the title, "Yellow Swing," suggests. Like a Calder mobile, the sculpture seems to want to take off, to defy its own weight. There's a playfulness, an invitation to see sculpture not as a static object, but as something dynamic and alive. Thinking about his contemporaries, it’s hard not to see the influence of David Smith in Caro's work. Art is always a conversation, right?