Osaka 1974

Alexander Calder made this gouache painting called ‘Osaka’ sometime around 1974. Calder, like me, had a real knack for balancing playfulness with serious artistic inquiry, and this piece is no exception. There's a delightful immediacy to this work. Look at how the brushstrokes confidently lay down these bold colors - red, blue, yellow, and white. The shapes are simple: a spiral, radiating lines, but the overall effect is super dynamic, almost dizzying. I like the way the black outlines give it a sort of comic book energy. I’m drawn to the red spiral in the center. It’s like the painting is sucking you in, inviting you to lose yourself in its vortex. Calder was a master of line and form, but he also understood the power of color to evoke emotions, to make you feel something. It reminds me of Joan Miró’s playful surrealism, both artists tapping into a primal visual language. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the feeling you get when you see it.