26+ Alexander Calder Quotes On Art, Artwork And World

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor best known for his innovative mobiles that embrace chance in their aesthetic. He is also known for his large public sculptures, which often incorporate motion and are site-specific. Calder is credited with inventing the mobile, an abstract sculpture made with delicately balanced or suspended shapes that move in response to touch or air currents. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Alexander Calder on art, life, artwork.

Top 10 Alexander Calder Quotes

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise!
4. To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect.
5. My fan mail is enormous. Everyone is under six.
6. About my method of work: first it’s the state of mind—Elation (joy).
7. My whole theory about art is the disparity that exists between form, masses and movement.
8. I love red so much, I almost want to paint everything red.
9. 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.
10. The next step in sculpture is motion.

Alexander Calder Short Quotes

• I have been making wire jewelry - and think I'll really do something with it, eventually.
• You see nature and then you try to emulate it.
• I paint with shapes.
• The first inspiration I ever had was the cosmos, the planetary system.
• The universe is real, but you can't see it. You have to imagine it.
• The basis of everything I do is the universe.

Alexander Calder Quotes About Art

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. — Alexander Calder

My fingers always seem busier than my mind. — Alexander Calder

Above all, art should be fun. — Alexander Calder

The underlying sense of form in my work has been the system of the Universe, or part thereof. For that is a rather large model to work from. — Alexander Calder

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

Alexander Calder Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Alexander Calder

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. — Alexander Calder

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

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. — Alexander Calder

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

Life Lessons by Alexander Calder

1. Alexander Calder's work demonstrates the power of abstraction to capture emotion and movement, showing the potential for art to communicate without the need for literal representation.
2. His use of balance and color to create dynamic compositions demonstrates the importance of composition in creating an effective work of art.
3. His innovative approach to sculpture, which involved the use of everyday materials and the introduction of motion, shows the importance of experimentation and pushing the boundaries of traditional art forms.