When it’s that time of year and the change in weather turns you into a homebody, don’t just become a couch potato. If you have inspiring kinetic art in your space, you can interact with the energy it displays. Certain artworks inspire us to move not just our minds but our bodies as well. There are a few giants in the art world that have inspired not just art lovers, but other artists as well. See if anything captures the spirit to get you moving!
Inspiration: Keith Haring’s Dancing Figures
Keith Haring’s famous Dancing Figures are an obvious choice of motion in art, but his lines and colors create an undeniable rhythm. The dancers almost dance off the canvas, hands reaching out, urging us to join them. Haring was inspired by the streets of New York, believing art was for everyone, perhaps the reason why his work feels so approachable. It connects us through movement and joy.
Haring’s work inspires countless others, including KAWS (Brian Donnelly), another street artist/turned gallery star. KAWS is known for his vibrant, playful figures with x-ed out eyes that co-brand with everything from Snoopy to Star Wars to Pharrell Williams. His figures, like Companion, have a similar sense of motion and life to Haring’s Dancing Figures, inviting viewers to engage playfully.
Nina Chanel Abney is another artist channeling the vibrant, socially conscious energy of Keith Haring. Abney explores race, gender, politics, and culture, with a bold, colorful, street art-inspired approach. Her Royal Flush series encourages viewers to question contemporary social issues in much the same way Haring’s work did during the 1980s.
Inspiration: Alexander Calder’s Moving Sculptures
Known as the creator of the mobile, Alexander Calder revolutionized sculpture by incorporating movement into his pieces. His works, often made of delicate metal shapes suspended in air, shift and rotate with the slightest breeze, bringing a graceful, almost dance-like motion to his art. His Triple Gong mobile moves so fluidly people often feel the urge to mirror the flow and catch when the gong hits. Calder’s creations were groundbreaking in their embrace of kinetic energy, turning sculpture from something held in place into something constantly in motion.
Calder broke the mold for other kinetic sculptors, like Jennifer Townley who creates mechanical sculptures that intrigue you with movement. Her pieces like Colorola and Asinas use motors to move materials in flowing motions, creating new forms in their twists and turns, echoing Calder’s playful mobility.
Known for wind-activated kinetic sculptures, Anthony Howe’s intricate metal structures twist and shift, expand and contract with the wind, creating mesmerizing visual effects similar to Calder’s mobiles. His Mums the Word is a personal favorite.
Inspiration: Jackson Pollock’s Moving Paintings
The work of Jackson Pollock uses motion in an entirely new way. Known for his technique of “drip painting,” or as he called it, “action painting”, Pollock moved around his canvases, often laying them flat on the ground and pouring paint in sweeping, seemingly random movements. His famous Number 1A, 1948 is a canvas of layered paint that feels like a frozen record of Pollock’s own movements around it.
Much like Pollock’s technique, Katharina Grosse is immersive and action-based, often involving entire environments, much like Pollock’s dynamic technique. Her work uses large-scale, abstract installations to transform space with sweeping layers of color.
Jose Parlá’s layered, abstract paintings reflect his energetic brushwork, embodying the action-oriented style Pollock pioneered. Parlá layers a stream of consciousness in his large abstract paintings and multidisciplinary works.
Inspiration: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Bold Street Art
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works are known for their frenetic energy, blending graffiti style with elements of abstraction, iconography, and personal symbolism. His pieces, like Flash are busy with bold colors, lines, and text that vibrate with energy. Basquiat’s art reaches out, challenging, and moving with the viewer, inviting us to step into the rhythm of the streets that inspired him.
Bambi, the tag name for an anonymous street artist from London creates graphic, politically-charged street art with Basquiat’s energy and urgency. Her work addressing social issues through provocative visuals, much like Basquiat’s graffiti-inspired works.
JR (Jean-Rene) is French artist known for large-scale black-and-white photo murals installed in public spaces. His work echoes the urban engagement and social commentary found in Basquiat’s work.
True art can move us. Some artists bring out the kinetic energy of movement through paint, metal, wood, and even the spaces they occupy. Through motion—whether implied or literal—art can connect us to ourselves, to each other, and to the ever-moving world around us. Next time you are drawn into the rhythm of a piece, don’t resist; let the art move you, literally!
Do you some art that makes you move? Are you inspired by anything here? Share your comments below.
