NAME
La Grande Mouvement

DATE CREATED
2008

DIMENSIONS
Height: 27 inches
Length: 17 inches
Width: 7 inches

MATERIAL & PARTS 
French grandfather clock mechanism,
bell from alto sax, dark room red light,
wine tasteing cup, handwritten musical paper,
trumpet pistons, wine decanteur stoppers,
brass door handles

Description 
The format of this piece is modeled from a style of art deco mantle piece that one could buy in France in the 1930's, consisting of a clock mounted in the base below with a sculpture of a woman or an animal mounted above it at the top. So these pieces had a functional component and an aesthetic component, with the latter intended to offset or complement the former. This piece attempts to duplicate this model. 

Notice how the musical paper on either side gives dimension to the base. While the music paper is lit from the inside, it also shines light on the clock mechanism in the middle. The clock mechanism is in fact a purely aesthetic element, included to give a functional sense. The clock itself is battery operated.

The form at the top, structured from the bell of an alto saxophone, is an abstract entity that has some other-worldliness about it. There are two lights within this form, one which lights the bottle stoppers at the bottom, and the other which lights the red darkroom glass at the top.

Here is an example of an original from which this design was based...