Richard Birkett, Assemblages + Abstraction = Memphis Designed Clocks

Once a year most of the country springs forward and falls back with seasonal time-changes. Clocks and time-pieces remind us of upcoming appointments and schedules. Clocks can be functional or decorative, and in the case of Richard Birkett, clocks are functional sculpture.

Birkett has been making his version of unique clocks for numerous years. Some are assemblages, in the case of Birkett he creates three-dimensional, sculptural clocks of found objects. This clock is filled with a plastic toy dinosaur, a cow, a palm tree, a saxophone and then a vintage hair dryer hose with wooden blocks and a wooden spool. All these elements are non-art objects, including the triangle shapes which are glued together, creating a structure that becomes sculptural and when painted it takes on a transformational shape.

Upper Back Portion with Cow and Palm Trees,

and Hair Dryer Hose

The clock has a large metal circle on the front. This section of the clock is a music box, when wound, it plays “Ding-Dong! the Witch is Dead” from the famed movie, “The Wizard of Oz”. This adds an element of whimsy to the clock.

Front Portion of the Clock with Clock Face and Music Box Circle

Birkett uses a fluid Easter blizzard flurry of squiggles, streaks, splashes and splatters to camouflage all the found elements. This Easter blizzard is filled with lavender, pink,and turquoise colors, looking a lot like a 1950s formica kitchen counter. And just like Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, this clock demonstrates the automation style where Birkett is slinging his pigment through the air creating art chaos across the entire sculptural surface.

Birkett’s combination assemblages and abstractions, becomes a Memphis Style Clock. The Memphis Style was created by a group of designers lead by Italian architect, Ettore Sottsass in the 1980s. The design elements of this clock, has those same elements: pastel bright colors, patterns, geometric shapes, and pop-art qualities.

Birkett has been making these clock assemblages since 1984. He studied painting and sculpture at the Studio School of Spokane and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. You can still find his work at Art Fairs and at google search: Richard Birkett fantasy clocks. He lives in Otego, New York.

Richard Birkett Signature, 1999

Part of the inside workings of the clock

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©2019. Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors. These photos were created by Mr. Waller and all materials are used under the Fair Use Section 107, Copyright Act, unless otherwise noted. #waller-yoblonskyblogspot
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