More Alexander Calder at the Gagosian Gallery!

If the major Alexander Calder retrospective at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni leaves you wanting even more then head over to the consistently excellent Gagosian Gallery on Via Francesco Crispi where there's also a small, yet rewarding, Alexander Calder exhibition running at present.

The show opens with a human scale steel sculpture from 1957- Five Points/Triangles - and closes with a handful of works on paper, but the heart of the show is without doubt the monumental sculpture commissioned for Mies van der Rohe's American Republic Insurance Company building in Des Moines, Iowa, - Spunk of the Monk (1964) – which stretches across one end of the main oval gallery like some enormous black steel spider. Whilst it shares the large space with only one other piece - Triumphant Red (1959-63) - a huge mobile spanning almost six metres and suspended from the ceiling, it was this work which immediately drew my attention. At the Palazzo delle Esposizioni show Calder's monumental sculptures are represented through smaller maquettes or photographs, but here the free standing work is large enough for visitors to walk right underneath its welded arches and fully interact with the piece.

Highly recommended!

Alexander Calder: Monumental Sculpture continues at the Gagosian Gallery at Via Francesco Crispi, 16 until 30 January, 2010.

Photo © Gagosian Gallery (Web-resolution, fair use)