Monday Miscellany: Some Odds, Ends and Personals

Q: Why is there a covered grandfather clock in an art gallery?

A: Because it is not a grandfather clock covered by a sheet. It is a wood carving titled “Ghost Clock” by Wendell Castle, made from a single block of laminated mahogany. How amazing is it: look carefully at the string, the folds, the impressions from underneath, the stitching at the edges of the sheet.

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Likewise this box of money is also a single carving:

Artist Randall Rosenthal (1947 - ) carried out both the carving and painting.

"Half the time is spent on carving and half is spent on painting, they’re the exact opposite processes. I start with a block of wood and it’s totally reductive in that I take away wood until I get what I want. The carving is a high-wire act because there’s no room for error and I don’t plan it out, the painting is the opposite. You can paint on the paint forever, until you get what you like.”

Randall also carves piles of newspapers, baseball cards, binders, books and other collected items, as pictured below.

(As I have commented previously with photorealist art, when the work is indistinguishable from reality, what are you left with after the initial viewing? We are amazed by the skill of the artist and sculptor, but is it anything more than a box of cash that has been created cleverly?  Is it simply an exercise for the artist to demonstrate skill?)

Here’s how the does it:

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