Loop the Loop 1969

Alexander Calder made "Loop the Loop," a playful gouache, in 1969, a time when the art world was reckoning with the legacies of modernism and the rise of new forms of expression. Calder, known for his innovative mobiles, brings a sense of movement and lightness to the two-dimensional surface. The floating shapes and dynamic lines evoke a sense of freedom. The black lines create a dance across the white space. Calder’s work often dances on the line between abstraction and representation. While seemingly non-representational, the whimsical forms might reflect a longing for simplicity amidst the social and political complexities of the late 1960s. Calder provides a space for reflection on the interconnectedness of forms. It asks us to consider how, like the elements in this painting, we, too, are part of a larger composition.