Opening: A great Calder exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art

This looks like a fabulous exhibit of many, MANY Calder pieces and other interesting works!

At the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art between June 26th and October 17th, 2010.

I think I'll be taking a road trip to see this one!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-klein/calder-and-the-kids_b_622388.html?ir=Arts

Perihelion - Hanging Mobile

"Perihelion" - original hanging mobile by Unigami

22 inches tall x 38 inches wide

Sheet Metal and stainless steel

visit www.the-mobile-factory.com for more information about my hanging mobiles and stabiles.

Automata by Gina Kamentsky

The tradition of building automata to demonstrate scientific principals dates back as far a Hero's contraptions in ancient Greece.  Automata has also been used in conjunction with religious icons, as well as for performing practical work, and simply for fun as toys and novelties.

Many artists have experimented with Automata and Kinetic Sculpture.  The best are able to integrate knowledge of basic engineering mechanisms with a keen sense of playfulness and whimsical design to create novel  contraptions that are a delight to watch.

Gina Kamenstky's works are among the best that I have seen.  Check out her website for an amazing array of devices and be sure to watch the videos!

Gina Kamentsky's Mechanical Confections

Calder's BMW art car

I love this picture of Calder, in a typical pose, with the custom BMW that he painted for his friend Herve Poulain. It was the first of its kind, and started a tradition of  custom BMW's painted by artists such as Warhol, Stella, Lichtenstein, Hockney, and continues to this day with the most recent version by artist Jeff Koons.


http://www.cartype.com/pages/345/bmw_art_cars

Photographer Milton Gendel's best shot

He drew a picture of me on my shoes' … Alexander Calder's portrait on Milton Gendel's soles

From The Guardian: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/apr/14/photography-milton-gendel-best-shot

In 1968, my old friend from the US art scene, Alexander Calder, visited me in Rome. I had gone there in the 1950s, when my flat in New York was torn down and my first wife left me.

As an artist, Calder was first-rate, which the world has recognised. But he was also great company: witty and playful, with a brilliant mind. One evening, we went out for dinner. I had been whitewashing my studio and had walked in the paint. When I crossed my legs, Calder took out a pencil, on impulse, and drew my portrait on one of the splattered soles, and my profile on the other. He signed each: "AC".

At the end of the meal, as we walked into the street, I decided to take them off. Calder, who was built like a bear, came after me shouting: "Put your shoes back on – it's the winter, you'll catch a cold. I'll give you another drawing!" But I didn't have far to go. I got the shoes framed eventually. They now sit on my piano and are among my most treasured possessions.

The photograph was taken decades later. It was used as the cover of a catalogue for a show I gave in the museum of Spoleto in 2006. They suggested the shoes be used for the cover, but I wanted to make the image more personal, so I photographed myself reflected in the frame's glass. As you can see, it looks as if I am behind the shoes, falling feet-first. It was a piece of luck, like so much in photography.

I would describe it as a triple mug shot, and one of the most evocative photos I have taken, capturing place, person and situation. It is biographical, too: it shows me holding a camera, with the results of what I can do with a camera. As I was taking it, I was wondering if it would work. I took it in digital, looked at it, realised it was right, and kept it.

Did Alexander Calder Have a Mobile Home?

Here's a cute folk song by David Damrose, lyrics are below, or you can listen to it here:

http://www.americansongspace.com/songprofile/Did-Alexander-Calder-Have-a-Mobile-Home-_-David-Damroze/MjI2MjM~

You can also download it for free here:   
http://macjams.com/song/59993

Did Alexander Calder Have a Mobile Home ?

---

Once when I was in the city
The concierge in the Hotel told me
That on Thursday Nights the Art Museum was free.

So I Pulled on my boots and put on my hat
Had the fellow call me a Taxi
and went down there to see what I could see.

Metal and wires hanging from the ceiling
Various shapes spinning and reeling
And a woman in a Suit explaining what it meant.

When it came time for the Q&A;Session
she asked if there were any questions
I raised my hand and said something like this :

Did Alexander Calder have a mobile home
Was he mentally stabile, did he like to roam
Was he anti-social, did he hang around ?

Could he keep a steady job or was he fired
Was he kind of mellow, was he really wired
Did Alexander Calder have a mobile Home ?

Well, all those city folks gave me a look
Like I never even thought of reading a book
Especially some bald guy wearing a turtleneck Sweater

He walked right up, got in my face
I said to him" Now looky here Ace,
You'll back off if you know what's good for you ".

Near a pointillist painting he poked me in the eye
I never even bothered to ask him why
After that unfriendly Gesture the fight was on.

We tumbled into a Pablo Picasso
His nose on my ear my eye on his elbow
He bounced off a Sunflower and bit off a piece of my ear

We rolled into the surrealism gallery
Fishy lightbulb mustache lingerie
About that time the police had arrived

Did Alexander Calder Have a mobile home
Was he mentally Stabile did he like to roam
Was he anti-social, Did he hang around ?

Could he keep a steady job or was he fired
Was he kind of mellow, was he really wired.
Did Alexander Calder Have a Mobile Home?

Well if you're ever in the city
and visit the museum on a Thursday
It's best to keep your opinions to yourself

Those Art Types take themselves seriously
If you speak you'll probably wind up like me
And spend your weekend sitting in a cell

Did Alexander Calder have a mobile home
Was he mentally stabile, did he like to roam
Was he anti-social, Did he hang around ?

Could he keep a steady job or was he fired
Was he kind of mellow, was he really wired
Did Alexander Calder Have
a mobile home ?


Words/music Copyright 2010 David Damroze (ASCAP)

The Calder Game

Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist have written a series of children's books that offer up an engaging dose of art history cleverly wrapped up in a mystery / adventure story of three 7th grade sleuths; Calder, Petra, and Tommy. 

The first two books were about Vermeer "Chasing Vermeer (2004)" and Frank Lloyd Wright The Wright 3 (2006). The third installment entitled "The Calder Game" focuses on Alexander Calder. 

I think we could have seen that one coming.

The gist of this story is that the three friends visit a Calder exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (I think I may have seen them there), and then later Calder (the boy, not the artist) and his father travel to a remote area in England that happens to have an anonymously donated Calder stabile on display - The Minotaur.

The mystery begins when both boy and sculpture dissapear on the same night.


I think this is a wonderful way to expose young readers to art.  The reviews on Amazon are generally pretty good for these books as they are known for captivating writing, interesting puzzles (there is a puzzle in this book that is based on the elements of a mobile!), and good characterization.  I did see a few complaints about the plot line on this one though....

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll read The Calder Game because I can pretty much guess the ending and the solution to the mystery of the missing boy and sculpture.


My bet is that a secret agent from the Calder Foundation snatches them both up and ships them off to New York City where they are hidden deep under West 25th Street in a dark, dank, storage room, never to be seen again.  


The Calder Game