Mellow Clock

Is it a sculpture? A clock? A reminder that time, though tangible, remains an abstract concept? Or perhaps it's a piece of kinetic art, blending influences from both past and present artists? Mellow Clock by Joe Parr is all of these things. While it clearly marks the passing of time, its deep-colored aluminum surface remains visible through the night. But it is more than just a clock - it’s a kinetic sculpture. The pendulum swings silently while the concave forms shift, embodying time in its essence: not a steady, predictable rhythm, but an experience that ebbs and flows, speeding up or slowing down, independent of circadian patterns. Time here is personal, bound to intimacy, presence, and the stark realities of life and death. It serves as a reminder that every decision, conscious or not, sets us on a new timeline - some slow, some fast. Time is a construct of our own making, or, as Peter Lorre famously says in Beat the Devil, “Time. Time. What is time? The Swiss manufacture it. The French hoard it. The Italians squander it. The Americans say it’s money. The Hindus say it doesn’t exist. You know what I say? I say time is a crook.”

Joe Parr challenges our obsession with time. In an era where we are constantly confronted by clocks on our phones, computers, and watches, he finds this dependence troubling. By removing the clock face, the numbers, and all the precision, he asks: Can this transformation of the clock change our relationship with time? Could it bring us closer to the Scandinavian Slow Living philosophy - a way to reconnect with the present and with life itself? "Surrounded by clocks, my attention was always focused on the future or anxious about the past," says Parr. "I wanted to live more in the present, and that guided the design. By removing the clock face, numbers, and exactness of the hands, I created a more forgiving, enjoyable experience of time."

Functionality has always been central to design, but Parr’s approach transcends technicality. His work addresses emotions and existential challenges. Movement has long been a theme in art, and Mellow Clock evokes the kinetic art of Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp, Lygia Clark, Naum Gabo, and Theo Jansen’s Sandbeest, not to mention the Bauhaus and Modernist architecture’s fascination with machine aesthetics. Parr’s Mellow Clock blends kinetic art and functionality into a bold, artistic statement that is at home in any space.