top of page
Copy of EPHEMERAL3.jpg

C  L  O C  K  W  O  R  K  S

All sorts of timepieces have found their way into my life and work throughout the years — in theater sets, in broadcast environments, in public venues, on shelves, on walls, in my pocket, on my wrist. Clock towers in too many foreign cities have tracked the eternity of a sleepless night while reminding me how fleeting the waking hours of the next day can be.

Though I’ve been building clock assemblages for more than ten years, a near death experience in 2020, caused me to  pause and consider why these mechanical constructions that tick off the seconds, hours, days and years hold such a powerful interest for me.

It’s not just an awakened recognition of mortality that has redirected and sustained this fascination, though the dark palette of these clocks might suggest it.  Rather, I’m interested in exploring the multiple narratives metered by the eternal sweep of the hands, around and around again, never stopping. The clocks are a symbol and measure of our ever-evolving lives, archived by time whether we are conscious observers of time or not.

Our personal narratives all come to the same end — an inevitability, as of yet unalterable. Are clocks, then, just cruel reminders of the transient nature of life or are they more subtle constructs that remind us to live life now? Depending on the time of day or night, they communicate both.

Each clock in this collection is hand built using found objects, discarded clock cases, old and new clockworks, a variety of metals, wood, glass, lacquers and shellacs. Objects and details that existed in a different context have been transformed to serve the intent of each piece.


 

 

 

October 2024

ErikSig.jpg

Site design | Glen Jacobs | jaco13@mac.com

Early Work photography | Audrey Sackner Bernstein

© 2024 erikulfersclockworks

bottom of page