Question, Léger once called you a realist. How do you feel about this? Yes, I think I am a realist. Because I make what I see. It's only the problem … - Alexander Calder

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Question, Léger once called you a realist. How do you feel about this?
Yes, I think I am a realist. Because I make what I see. It's only the problem of seeing it. If you can imagine a thing, conjure it up in space - then you can make it, and tout de suite you're a realist. The universe is real but you can't see it. You have to imagine it. Once you imagine it, you can be realistic about reproducing it.

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About Alexander Calder

(August 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known as the originator of the mobile, a type of Kinetic art made with delicately balanced or suspended components which move in response to motor power or air currents.

Also Known As

Pen Names: Calder, Sandy, 1898-1976
Alternative Names: Sandy Calder Calder

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Additional quotes by Alexander Calder

The admission of approximation is necessary, for one cannot hope to be absolute in his precision. He cannot see, or even conceive of a thing from all possible points of view, simultaneously. While he perfects the front, the side, or rear may be weak; then while he strengthens the other facade he may be weakening that originally the best. There is no end to this. To finish the work he must approximate.

Question: Which has influenced you more, nature or modern machinery?
I haven't really touched machinery except for a few elementary mechanisms like levers and balances. You see nature and then you try to emulate it. But, of course, when I met Mondrian [Paris, 1930] I went home and tried to paint [for a while]. The basis of everything for me is the universe. The simplest forms in the universe are the sphere and the circle. I represent them by disks and then I vary them. My whole theory about art is the disparity that exists between form, masses and movement. Even my triangles are spheres, but they are spheres of a different shape.

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Before, the wire studies were subjective, portraits, caricatures, stylized representations of beasts and humans. But these recent things have been viewed from a more objective angle and although their present size is diminutive, I feel that there is no limitation to the scale to which they can be enlarged....

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