About A.I KIDS

Art, // December 16, 2017

Calder’s Magical Mobiles — ART

“Red, White, Black and Brass,” 1934, by Alexander Calder. (Calder Foundation/Artists Rights Society

“Red, White, Black and Brass,” 1934, by Alexander Calder.
(Calder Foundation/Artists Rights Society

By Alexander C. Kafka

What do we make of the subtitle of Jed Perl’s new biography of Alexander Calder, “The Conquest of Time”? It sounds like a “Star Trek” movie. The answer comes two-thirds of the way through this shaggy and fascinating volume: Time-conquering is theory-speak for the fact that many of Calder’s works move.