Philadelphia Art: Subject the Second: Orange Metal Thing
I recently went on a walk through campus to photograph more art for this series when I discovered a new piece I just had to share with you. At first I thought this was sort of jungle gym but upon closer inspection it was indeed, art!
So as you can see behind the clicky, it is basically an abstract shape in orange sheet metal and I would have given no more thought to it than that until I saw its name.
This so hurt my brain that I felt compelled to do a little reasearch into the piece. Turns out the artist, Alexander Calder, is an artist famous for pioneering art with twisted wire eventually giving rise to what we know as the mobile.
So the latter half of the name, Stabile, apparently refers to the fact that this particular piece of art is standing still. So glad he let me know.
In his later years, Calder focused on large art designed for outdoor displays in public places and particularly on abstract representations for various wild animals.
Couldn't find much else about the specific piece until I stumbled across the comments of one John W. McCoubrey, a professor of art history. He was asked to name his favorite art pieces on campus and had this to say.
"Alexander Calder's elephant--oh yes, it is one!--is an elegant, graceful rendering of the ponderous beast, and that is part of its humor."
After a few Cider Jack's, I think I saw one in the third picture but that could just be me. Still trying to figure out what Jerusalem has to do with a vaguely elephant shaped bright orange collection of sheet metal.
In any case, I leave it to you to decide, is it art?
So as you can see behind the clicky, it is basically an abstract shape in orange sheet metal and I would have given no more thought to it than that until I saw its name.
This so hurt my brain that I felt compelled to do a little reasearch into the piece. Turns out the artist, Alexander Calder, is an artist famous for pioneering art with twisted wire eventually giving rise to what we know as the mobile.
So the latter half of the name, Stabile, apparently refers to the fact that this particular piece of art is standing still. So glad he let me know.
In his later years, Calder focused on large art designed for outdoor displays in public places and particularly on abstract representations for various wild animals.
Couldn't find much else about the specific piece until I stumbled across the comments of one John W. McCoubrey, a professor of art history. He was asked to name his favorite art pieces on campus and had this to say.
"Alexander Calder's elephant--oh yes, it is one!--is an elegant, graceful rendering of the ponderous beast, and that is part of its humor."
After a few Cider Jack's, I think I saw one in the third picture but that could just be me. Still trying to figure out what Jerusalem has to do with a vaguely elephant shaped bright orange collection of sheet metal.
In any case, I leave it to you to decide, is it art?