📆 Through Sunday, June 1st
⏰ Wednesday – Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm
📍 Seattle Art Museum: 1300 1st Ave, Seattle
👀 Fluid wooden sculptures in an exhibit on weight and motion
When Alexander Calder created the mobile in 1931, the 98-year-old Pittsburgh sculptor Thaddeus Mosley would have been five. Mobiles were a new, dynamic art medium, reshaping the visual—and sometimes sonic—space around them as they hung. Now, Mosley’s wood sculptures, inspired in part by Calder’s mobiles, will be displayed alongside them in the Seattle Art Museum.
The addition of Mosley’s work is part of a larger existing Calder exhibit at SAM, which honors his life and transformative kinetic sculptures. Where Calder imbued motion, Mosley focuses on weight and balance. Following Space, his 2016 cherry wood carving after which the exhibit is named, twists and wavers upward from a solid base. It looks like it’s growing, like Mosley has caught a tree’s branches reaching toward the ceiling. But it’s unrooted and sits in balance.
There are 17 of Mosley’s creations at SAM, and 5 of Calder’s, chosen in consultation with Mosley. He thinks art should be personal and emotional. “I think my art—and almost any art that I like—is like a spiritual experience. It should give some delight, some joy,” Mosley says.
Calder’s works stretch and cut through space from the ceiling, while Mosley’s “levitate” from the bottom to the top. You won’t need to stretch too far to find something spiritual in their duality. You’ll only need to see it for yourself.
It’s best to book ahead: tickets for adults cost $29.99 in advance and $32.99 for same-day. But check your calendar—on the first Thursday of every month admission is free!
With three dynamic locations, Seattle Art Museum has been the center for visual arts in the Pacific Northwest since 1933.
💌 Be Our Pen Pal! Find out what’s happening in Seattle by subscribing to our newsletter.
