Alexander Calder in Architectural Digest

“Why must art be static?” Alexander Calder once asked, with a tinge of defiance.

“The next step in sculpture is motion.” This question, or near challenge, impelled the artist to investigate mass and materiality, space and movement—leading to the birth of his celebrated mobile. The evolution of Calder’s kinetic sculptures is the subject of a sweeping and unprecedented New York exhibition, Calder: Small Sphere and Heavy Sphere, that opens this Saturday. It will help inaugurate Pace’s new 75,000-square-foot flagship at 540 West 25th Street in Chelsea.

The installation is brought to life by Stephanie Goto, whose thoughtful design tells a nuanced and engaging story of Calder’s development. And there is no designer more suited for the job. Over the last decade, she’s had the unique opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Calder’s work—first transforming the Calder Foundation’s rooftop shed in Chelsea into a light-filled project space, and more recently, dreaming up a striking, monochromatic exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles. “I’ve had time to absorb the essence and vibrations of Calder over the last 10 years,” Goto tells AD PRO during a tour of the exhibition. “What I think has been exciting about working with Calder is that there are so many aspects of his art. It’s not just one idea, or one direction, or one expression.”

This landmark show—a collaboration between the gallery and the Calder Foundation—presents roughly 70 works in chronological sequence that guide the viewer through Calder’s creative process, beginning with his whimsical sketches of Central Park and Bronx Zoo animals and three-dimensional wire sculptures, and culminating in his first hanging mobile, from which the exhibition takes its title.

Read Nicole Anderson's full review in (opens in a new window) Architectural Digest now.