Alex Chinneck’s latest artwork, ‘Growing up gets me down’, transforms an antique grandfather clock into a contemporary sculpture.
The unique piece, which is on display and available to purchase at Liberty London, achieves the seemingly impossible task of tying the body of a longcase oak clock into a knot. The result is an inventive and witty twist on a traditional aesthetic, breathing new life and eccentricity into an antique object.
Best known for his surreal public artworks, wherein buildings appear to hover, bricks melt and tarmac curls, the artist enjoys pushing the boundaries of materials and their sculptural potential. The knotted clock introduces fluidity to a typically inflexible form and represents an exciting new move for the artist into producing work that simultaneously occupies the territories of sculpture and interior design.
“My two passions are creating sculptures and collecting antiques. ‘Growing up gets me down’ unties these interests in a playful yet technically complex way,” says Chinneck. “The grandfather clock takes the idea of re-imagining and re-purposing a traditional household item onto another level and we’ve been able to produce a sculptural object which is also a fully functioning time-piece.”
