At first glance Ghost Clock appears to be a grandfather clock hidden under a white sheet. However, a closer look reveals a masterful deception: this entire sculpture was hand-carved from a single block of laminated mahogany. With its meticulous detail, Castle re-created in wood the contours of soft, supple cloth, then completed the illusion by bleaching the “drapery” white and staining the base of the “clock” a walnut brown. This work is the last in a series of thirteen clocks the artist created in the 1980s; unlike the others, it lacks an inner mechanism. Its haunting stillness and silence suggest eternity – the absence of time.
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
- Title
-
Ghost Clock
- Artist
- Date
- 1985
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 86 1⁄4 x 24 1⁄2 x 15 in. (219.0 x 62.2 x 38.1 cm)
- Copyright
-
© 1985, Wendell Castle
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- bleached Honduras mahogany
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Keywords
-
- Object – other – linens
- Object – furniture – clock
- Object Number
-
1989.68
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
