When I was little I went to the Whitney and saw Alexander Calder's circus. It was entrancing. Tiny wire circus performers, tiny wire circus animals all performing in the tiny wire circus. There was also a documentary showing Calder and his circus. Today on Boing Boing I found a link to the documentary on YouTube. If you are in New York you can go see the circus in person at the Whitney.
I have lots of Calder-related memories from when I was a child. My father loved his work and we had posters and prints around the house. Once he considered buying a maquette of one of Calder's larger kinetic pieces. I remember the art dealer placing it in my mother's hand as the mobile parts shuddered.
I was very happy, when I moved to Chicago, that one of the more distinctive icons in the city is Flamingo, the immense Calder sculpture in front of the federal building.
In Seattle, Eagle sat in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum. I was in Volunteer Park a few weeks ago and was very sad to see the poor condition of the sculpture. I was very surprised and pleased to learn it was being removed the following day for restoration and then to be placed on permanent display in the new Olympic Sculpture Park due to open later this year.
