Nothing to see here, just an old grandfather clock covered in a white sheet.
Not sure why this is on display at an art musem. Perhaps the clock was damaged and was covered up to prevent any further damage?
Oh look a plaque. Maybe that will explain what I would be seeing if it weren’t for this sheet!
Wendell Castle you diabolical genius! Plaque transcribed below
At first glance, Ghost Clock appears to be a grandfather clock hidden by a large white sheet tied with a rope. A close look, however, reveals a masterful deception: this entire sculpture was hand-carved from a single block of laminated mahogany. With 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.
Wendell Castle – Ghost Clock, 1985
Bleached Honduras Mahogany
86 1/4 x 24 1/2 x 15 in.
Credits
Photograph 1 by Dave McIntire
Photograph 2 by Dave McIntire
Photograph 3 by Mads @ Just some things
Photograph 4 by PwnBuddy on reddit
Photograph 5 by Smithsonian American Art Museum
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