Eagle

Sandy Calder's elegantly commanding creature, installed at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. When I saw it I wondered again if his favorite colour wasn't red. Was it red? It seemed to figure so prominently in his work and wardrobe.

I was fortunate to catch A Balancing Act in Seattle in January, an exhibition beautifully installed at the SAM featuring many of his mobiles. There too was my favorite work: Le Grand Cirque Calder (1955), the documentary film made by Jean Painleve who saw Calder perform his circus live in Paris in the 1920's. When he performed the circus for film, his wife Louisa James assisted, switching lps out on a portable record player and dropping chestnuts behind the performing elephant, after which her husband poop-scooped them up.

I liked how the curator set up the projection at the SAM, with a large rectangular carpet laid out on the floor in front the screen. It was perfect to lie down on and watch.

A dvd of the film can be purchased here.