The Giant Yellow Ant-Eater 1963

This is Alexander Calder’s “The Giant Yellow Ant-Eater”, and it looks like it was printed on paper sometime during his career. The image is just this joyful, off-kilter creature, and I’m immediately drawn to the process. The flatness of the printed image makes me think about shapes and how Calder has put these shapes together, almost like a collage. There's this ant-eater in bright primary colors. The yellow one is jaunty, but then the others have strange, almost menacing black protrusions. It's playful but it also seems slightly anxious, and I love that. It reminds me a little bit of Joan Miró, you know? Both of them were interested in chance, in the way shapes can suggest new forms, and how colors can make us feel. Calder’s work is so cool, it's this ongoing experiment, a reminder that art doesn't have to be so serious. It can be a conversation, an invitation, a giant yellow ant-eater.