I recently made a custom mobile sculpture for the TV show And Just Like That … and installed on the set in a loft in New York City last week. Filming took place a couple of days after, and the art department informed me afterwards that the mobile “looked incredible on our set” and that it “was much admired”. The mobile should be visible in Season 2 Episode 5, which will be released on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

This is a photo of the yet-to-be-painted mobile in my work shop:

Made of aluminum, the mobile weighs only about 5 pounds (2.25 kg), so it moves even with the slightest air currents. The dimensions are approximately 10 feet (300 cm) in height and 10 feet in diameter.

A photo by Tanya Stadelmann from installation day:

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Update – July 13th 2023:

Here are screen captures from the episode where the mobile is featured when Sarah Jessica Parker‘s character (Carrie Bradshaw) visits Peter Hermann‘s character’s (George) place.

Mentions of the mobile, although (possibly) mistaken for a piece by Alexander Calder:

New York Times: ‘And Just Like That …’ Season 2, Episode 5 Recap
Decider: Peter Hermann is the Perfect ‘And Just Like That’ Love Interest — Until He Isn’t

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Upon request, the design is based on a mobile that I custom-made for a private residence in Long Island, New York about 10 years ago:

Update:

There will be two more mobiles sculptures that I’ve made in Season 3 of the series, of which the first episode was released on May 29th 2025.

– See more of my mobile sculptures –

The design is based on the school’s PAWS award (pictured below). PRIDE is an acronym for P-Pride, R-Respect, I-Individual, R-Responsibility, D-Determination, and E-Empathy. Students receive a PAWS award when they display one of these character traits.

Initial design for the mobile:

Renders of the mobile in the 3d model of the rotunda:

Calculating the balance points:

Laser cutting and engraving the parts with the help of an Epilog Fusion M2 at Big Secret:

The finished mobile installed in the rotunda:

The wall plaque in the rotunda:

A “fly-around” animation of the 3d model:

– See more of my mobile commissions or read more of my blog about mobiles –

I competed against 22 sculptors for the commission including Zaha Hadid.

– See the design proposals that I submitted –

The sculpture measures 33ft (10m) in height and 26ft (8m) in diameter.

The largest shape is 5 2/3 ft long (1 3/4 m), the longest arm measures 17 3/4 ft (5 1/2 m) in length.

Made of aluminum, the mobiles weighs only about 100 pounds (45kg).

Two photos from the Grand Opening Celebration on August 28th 2015:

Render animation of the 3D model of the mobile:

The hospital is located on a hilltop in historic Mt. Auburn above downtown Cincinnati. The view from the hospital’s rooftop garden:

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) designed the new Joint and Spine Center, the same architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firm that also collaborated with Alexander Calder on numerous projects from the 1950s through the 1970s. A view from outside of the suspended sculpture in the atrium:

The 125 year old Christ Hospital is consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s top hospitals. Here’s an outside view of the newly built Joint and Spine Center with the atrium in which the sculpture is installed at the main entrance:

These are photos that I took myself. Professional photos should follow within a month. Here’s one by Tom Rossiter for Health Care Design Magazine:

Thanks to Mike Rainer of Mike’s Machine & Welding for assisting with the fabrication of the mobile.

– See more of my large mobile art –

Renders of the suspension (designed with Rhino):

Building the maquette (small scale model):

The design is by Tina Spiro with me and Ervin Nichol and inspired by the Petchary, a bird that migrates between the southeastern United States and Central America (including Jamaica):

See more of my custom hanging kinetic art sculptures or read more of my blog about mobiles and suspended kinetic art installation.

3 large (16ft/5.3m) custom mobiles for an atrium at a hotel. I will have photos of them once they’re installed on location [Update: photos of the mobiles installed at the atrium]. For now, here are the unpainted aluminum shapes ready to be assembled. The largest ones measure 5 ft / 1.5 m in length:

And a render courtesy of Studio 3877 Architecture:

Working on a proposal for a giant mobile (150 ft / 50 m) for an airport for, what could be, the largest mobile in the world. One part of the study:

Other proposals:

– The one above I actually made in August –

– Read more of my blog about mobiles or see more of my mobiles –

– See my mobiles or read more of my blog about mobiles –

The shapes (paddles) had to be reattached and the new rivets needed to be painted.

Mini-pulley system for the roof designed by Jorge to raise the mobile:

The design of the mobile:

Measurements of the atrium:

The design of the mobile photoshopped into pictures of the space (the colors for the mobile had yet to be decided at this point):

Photos of the installed mobile:

From the client: “The mobile is truly beautiful! [It] lives up to our expectations – which were inordinately high! The wonderful thing we discovered is the full meaning of the word ‘mobile’. With the advent of winter, we have turned on the heat on occasion. What that causes is real movement — almost a revolution per minute as the warm air floats upward. At night, with the lights on, the shadows play across the wall as well. Beautiful!”

And for kicks, a local cafe in Buenos Aires around the corner from the residence where the mobile now is:

Read more of my blog about mobiles or see more of my large custom mobiles.

The shapes of the “paddles” are inspired by Alexander Calder‘s mobiles. Here with a Barcelona Chair designed by Mies van der Rohe:

The custom design is based on proposals I previously posted on my blog here. The custom colors for the mobile are based on the circular rug in the lobby.

Photo: Marilyn Franklin

– On-site installation took less than an hour –

Photo: Marilyn Franklin

Measuring 12 feet (3 1/2 meters) in height and 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter, made of steel, rivets, primer and paint. The mobile weighs about 15 pounds (7 kilograms).

Email from the project manager/designer: “Thanks again for all the care and time you took creating the beautiful mobile. I got a text from the client today that it “looks fantastic!” – he is very pleased.”

Read more of my blog about mobiles or see more of my large custom mobiles.

Design 1:

In red and black, a classic Calder combination:

Again, in red and black:

Design 2:

First floor perspective:

Design 3 – inspired by the shapes on a rug that will be in the lobby:

Design 4 – Showing a different type of mobile structure with a mid-century modern art design element to it:

[Update: The client picked “Design 2” – see photos of the finished and installed mobile]

– Or see more of my other custom mobiles –

Upon the client’s request, I disassembled this mobile after taking these photos and packed it so tightly that he could bring it to Buenos Aires on an airplane. See the photos of the reassembly and installation of the mobile on location.

Not a Calder reproduction, but definitely strongly Calder inspired.

And just for fun, here’s a GIF animation with a snow flurry (pun intended for the Calder aficionados reading this):

– Read more of my blog or see more of my large custom made mobiles –

Yet when I draw up proposals for these kinds of projects, I keep wondering where the lines are between a mobile that could be a replica, a mobile that’s strongly influenced by Calder’s style (“in the manner of Alexander Calder”), and a Calder inspired mobile. If I copied his style to a tee, most people wouldn’t be able to tell it from an original Calder mobile, yet it wouldn’t be a replica.

The question here is not simply about style, because Calder invented a new art form, and he still is to date by very far the most well known sculptor to create mobiles. This could be compared to Wassily Kandinsky, who is often (arguably) noted as having created the first abstract paintings starting in 1911, and then attributing all abstract paintings that followed by others to his work. An important difference here being that compared to abstract painting, few kinetic sculptors have tried to create their own style of mobiles so far, and even then, the basic idea, and in many cases the structures of their mobiles, are based on Calder’s work, and in that way, most mobiles are Calder inspired, even if they’re original in style. However, the underlying idea and structure of Calder’s mobiles was not invented by Calder. It is based on Man Ray‘s 1920 piece titled Obstruction, which he made about 10 years before Calder started to make mobiles. It utilizes the same structure as a whippletree mechanism, which probably dates back to between 190 to 209 AD. For further reading on this topic, please see the photos below of Calder’s copy of Man Ray’s sculpture, and see my page Mobiles before Calder – Who Invented Mobiles – A History of Mobiles.

From a legal perspective, case law is telling us that style isn’t protected by copyright. In Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures, the court stated that style is merely one ingredient of expression and for there to be infringement, there has to be substantial similarity between the original work and the new, purportedly infringing, work. In Dave Grossman Designs v. Bortin, the court said that:

“The law of copyright is clear that only specific expressions of an idea may be copyrighted, that other parties may copy that idea, but that other parties may not copy that specific expression of the idea or portions thereof. For example, Picasso may be entitled to a copyright on his portrait of three women painted in his Cubist motif. Any artist, however, may paint a picture of any subject in the Cubist motif, including a portrait of three women, and not violate Picasso’s copyright so long as the second artist does not substantially copy Picasso’s specific expression of his idea.”

For more on the legal perspective, there’s a great article by Greg Kanaan titled You Can’t Copyright Style.

The sculptor Jerome Kirk, who in his early career was strongly influenced by Calder, went to visit him at his studio around 1954, and described the encounter in his book: “Low on money and feeling the need for some encouragement, I visited Alexander Calder at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. To enter his studio was like walking into a dream world. There were large work benches, vices, anvils and a magnificent clutter of tools, wire and sheet metal. His mobiles and stabiles of varying sizes were everywhere. At first Calder seemed interested in wanting to know what I was all about, but his cordiality gave way to petulance after seeing examples of my work. Guessing that he resented the close resemblance of my work to his own, I left discouraged, saddened and angry.” Jerome Kirk went on to creating his own very original style with his kinetic sculptures.

A standing mobile by Arthur Bauman:

A standing mobile by Calder (Quatre Blancs, 1976):

Here’s Calder (with Klaus Perls) at his 1956 exhibit at Perls Galleries with his mobile Untitled – Mobile with N Degrees of Freedom that he made in 1946:

Calder’s mobile is essentially the same sculpture as Man Ray’s Obstruction (1920) just made with wire instead of coat hangers:

Pablo Picasso once said: “What does it mean for a painter to paint in the manner of So-and-So or to actually imitate someone else? What’s wrong with that? On the contrary, it’s a good idea. You should constantly try to paint like someone else. But the thing is, you can’t! You would like to. You try. But it turns out to be a botch. And it’s at the very moment that you make a botch of it that you’re yourself.” (Hélène Parmelin, Picasso: The Artist and His Model, and other recent Works, 1965, page 43)

Picasso in his studio in 1956 standing next to a mobile not made by Calder:

Pablo Picasso and Alexander Calder knew each other and crossed paths in Paris’s vibrant art scene during the late 1920s and 1930s. Their acquaintance likely began around 1926 to 1933, when Calder was living in Paris, creating his Cirque Calder and early mobiles, and Picasso was an established figure in Montparnasse and the Surrealist circle. A key moment in their relationship came in 1937 during the International Exposition in Paris, where both contributed major works to the Spanish Pavilion, a project organized to support the Spanish Republic during the Civil War. Picasso created his monumental Guernica, while Calder designed the kinetic Mercury Fountain. They collaborated closely with architects Josep Lluís Sert and Luis Lacasa on the pavilion’s layout, fostering direct interaction. Calder admired Picasso’s inventive spirit, and Picasso, intrigued by Calder’s innovative use of movement in sculpture, reportedly visited his studio. Their mutual connections, including artists like Joan Miró and Surrealist circles, further facilitated their acquaintance. While not intimate friends, their shared artistic environment and the 1937 pavilion project cemented a professional respect and familiarity during their time in Paris.

On the topic of style, as in style in fine art and art movements, Calder is widely regarded as one of America’s most important surrealists, although he did not consider himself an abstract artist, as noted by Milly Burroughs. When pressed on this matter in an interview, Calder explained that his penchant for kinetic art and other-worldly forms was his interpretation of what the universe might look like, and would therefore be Realism.

– Read more of my blog posts about mobiles or see some of my mobile sculptures –

These are not the most impressive examples, but using 3-D modeling software allows for precise planning to ensure a custom sized mobile will fit the space nicely.

It is also a great tool during the design stage of a custom mobile to show how it will look exactly in a specific space:

Designed with python scripts and rendered in Rhino.

Mixing contemporary art with movement, Calder style mobiles with 21st century design elements.

Influenced by Alexander Calder‘s style, yet it has a clear and solid identity of its own.

See more of my custom-designed and custom-made mobiles …

– Part 1 –

See more of my custom mobiles …

See more of my custom designed mobiles …

– Part 2 –

See more of my custom mobiles …

Links to various videos of the installation keep floating around social media sites calling it “the largest kinetic sculpture in the world”, spanning an area of 75 square meters (810 sq ft) and a height of 7.3 meters (24 ft). While the sculpture is an amazing accomplishment, it doesn’t seem to be the world’s largest kinetic sculpture. To my knowledge, the largest kinetic sculpture in the world (and also the largest mobile sculpture) is Alexander Calder‘s White Cascade, which hangs in the Eastburn Court of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia:

It measures approximately 100 feet (31 meters) from top to bottom, is 60 feet (18 meters) at its widest point, and weighs close to 10 tons, including the motor, surpassing Calder’s 920 pound 76-foot-long mobile (or 85 feet, depending on source) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. I’m not sure if any of his stabiles are larger, but if not, then this would also be Alexander Calder’s largest sculpture. Speaking of that large Calder mobile at the National Gallery, it is made with hollow honeycomb-type structures designed by Paul Matisse (grandson of Henri Matisse and son of Pierre Matisse) and covered with paper-thin aluminum, and aluminum and steel bars, with the stress points being strengthened with molybdenum. It weighs 930 pounds (422 kg). The previous estimates from Calder’s foundry in Biémont exceeded 5000 pounds (2268 kg). It doesn’t have a name. When Calder was asked for a title, he replied “You don’t name a baby until it is born.” But then he passed away one year before it was installed at the Gallery. The mobile sculpture has been refurbished recently.

Back to White Cascade: It took just two days to install it. The installation was carried out in two stages. In the most difficult and time-consuming part of the job, the four top-most and largest aluminum discs — still in their protective wrappings — were joined to their respective stainless steel rods, then raised one by one and linked together. The 10 lower discs and rods were linked together on the ground level, then raised into position as a unit. A crane situated on the sidewalk outside the entrance to the Bank provided the lifting power.

Finally, the wrappings were removed. The 14 white aluminum discs that comprise “White Cascade” range in size from 3.5 feet in diameter to 12.7 feet. The longest of the connecting stainless steel rods is 36 feet; the shortest, 9 feet. Powered by an electric motor, the mobile rotates clockwise on a radius of 32.5 feet.

Here’s a photo by H. Scott Heist of Calder in front of the mobile:

The mobile was installed in May 1976, Calder passed away less than six months later.

Do you know of a larger kinetic sculpture? Let me know if you do and I’ll add it to this post.

Current relevance as of September 2025: No newer kinetic sculptures surpassing White Cascade in size have been widely reported in searches up to this date.

Also see my list of the 5 Largest Mobiles worldwide that I’m aware of.

– Update: –

I received an email from Anthony Howe nominating his OCTO 3 sculpture as possibly the largest outdoor permanent kinetic wind sculpture. It measures 25′ h x 30′ w x 30′ d (7.6m x 9.1m x 9.1m) and weighs 7000 pounds (3200 kg):

Since receiving the email from Anthony, it seems that he has surpassed these dimensions with the cauldron he created for the 2016 Rio Olympics measuring 40 ft (12.2 meters):

Related: Watch as Anthony Howe creates a massive, kinetic wind sculpture

– See some of my kinetic sculptures and mobiles –

MOBILE 91

[September 27th 2012]

Width: 47 in (119 cm)
Height: 37 in (94 cm)
Materials: sheet metal (aluminum), wire, swivels
Colors: unpainted

All of the parts on the mobile can rotate full circle independently from all the other parts
Suitable for indoors or outdoors (I tested it outdoors on a very windy day and it held up just fine)

– See a custom version I made of this mobile –

[Click on image for full size]

via Freudenberger Design Studio (formerly Haus Interior)

See more of my large custom mobiles

It consists of two elements, both with a sort of cut off triangle with one corner on each bent at a 45 degree angle, which on one hand gives it more visual presence and more air resistance (which makes it move with slighter breezes), and on the other hand gives it a mid-century modern feel, not unlike many of the shapes found in Eero Saarinen‘s buildings and structures, one of my favorite architects. However I came up with the idea for the shapes while designing a custom mobile for a private residence at the Butterfield House, considered one of the most architecturally significant modern apartment houses in New York City.

Besides rotating, each element also moves up and down with the wind, and several people who have seen it so far thought it resembles a bird flapping its wings. It’s currently in just plain unpainted metal, you can pick custom colors or a metal finish. And obviously, just because it’s made for outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t hang it indoors.

Available through my mobiles shop on Etsy.

[Click on images to enlarge]

Looking for a different kind of mobile?

Indoor or outdoor, small or large, please see the ones available in my shop or contact me for a custom mobile.

My elementary and middle school friend Tom Samui from Switzerland makes these custom sculptures (up to 26 feet/8 meter tall!) out of recycled car and motorcycle pieces. More info and images …

[Boing Boing post]