Alexander Calder at LACMA

Most people know Alexander Calder as the inventor of the mobile, a kinetic sculpture that hangs in space. But like his friend Georgia O'Keeffe, he is a familiar and beloved figure to such an extent that it obscures the fundamentally radical impulse of his art. LACMA's senior curator, Stephanie Barron, recognized this dilemma around the perception of his work and acknowledged it in the title of her show, Calder and Abstraction: From Avant Garde to Iconic.