Alexander Calder Quotations

Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions.

Why must art be static? You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion.

To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect.

I have been making wire jewelry - and think I'll really do something with it, eventually.

The underlying sense of form in my work has been the system of the Universe, or part thereof...What I mean is that the idea of detached bodies floating in space, of different sizes and densities, perhaps of different colors and temperatures, and surrounded and interlarded with wisps of gaseous condition, and some at rest, while others move in peculiar manners, seems to me the ideal source of form.

My fan mail is enormous. Everyone is under six.

The simplest forms in the universe are the sphere and the circle. I represent them by disks and then I vary them... spheres of different sizes, densities, colours and volumes, floating in space, traversing clouds, sprays of water, currents of air, viscosities and odours - of the greatest variety and disparity.

The next step in sculpture is motion.

You see nature and then you try to emulate it.

That others grasp what I have in mind seems unessential, at least as long as they have something else in theirs.

The basis of everything I do is the universe.

A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move, propelled by electric motors, wind, water or by hand.

The first inspiration I ever had was the cosmos, the planetary system.

My fingers always seem busier than my mind.

When an artist explains what he is doing, he usually has to do one of two things: either scrap what he has explained, or make his work fit in with the explanation.

The sense of motion in painting and sculpture has long been considered as one of the primary elements of the composition.

The trouble with a lot of artists today is that they have too much technique and equipment. They don't know what to do with it all. If you cut down on it, you can work more strongly within narrower limits.

About my method of work: first it’s the state of mind—Elation (joy).

I love red so much, I almost want to paint everything red.

My whole theory about art is the disparity that exists between form, masses and movement.

The universe is real, but you can't see it. You have to imagine it.

When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise!

Above all, art should be fun.

If you can imagine a thing, conjure it up in space then you can make it... The universe is real but you can't see it. You have to imagine it. Then you can be realistic about reproducing it.

To most people who look at a mobile, it's no more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry.