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Marcus Wilkinson
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Cronus

‘Cronus’ is the latest creation in a series of Iron Clocks produced by Mark Avis. Standing at over seven feet, ‘Cronus’ is Mark’s most ambitious sculpture to date.

As Mark himself admits ‘this has been my most challenging creation yet – the contrast between the fractured sides of the clock and the soft, melting effect, was a completely new idea that I wanted to convey’.

To achieve this dramatic sense of fluidity and fragmentation, Mark spent hours layering and re-shaping the material, to create the distinctive soft and brittle effects. His aim was to portray the illusion of movement, encompassing the pull of gravity and the pressure of time simultaneously.

On close inspection, you can see the form of a woman in motion, whose body is beginning to melt as the force of time descends from above. Diametrically opposed to this are fissures on the other side of the clock, emphasising the disintegrating nature of time and the transient nature of life.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of this particular piece is what Mark refers to as the ‘negative volume in the trunk of the sculpture’. This void reinforces the texture and depth of the main body of the sculpture, and yet paradoxically, it emphasises the fragility that can embody a work of art made of steel.

The third in this series of clocks, it was to be my tallest and heaviest by far …and it had to be ready in time to be shown at an important exhibition. I’m glad to say that I finished it just in time.

To create its huge form, I made some rough calculations on paper, scaling up the dimensions of the previous two Iron Clocks. But then I put the figures to one side, because I work much better by intuition.

My main point of reference is the human form – you’ll see that the proportions of all my Iron Clocks fit the proportions of people. For example, my clocks flex at the “neck” and tilt at “waist” height.

I decided to take several creative chances with this big clock. My original inspiration for the series was – believe it or not – the creases in our bedroom curtains. At some point in the middle of one night, I studied how the material folds and overlaps, and I knew that I wanted to add this effect to my iron creations.

For the first time, I added this creased effect to the base of this Iron Clock…and I also decided to make one side of the “head” very distorted, leaving the other almost untouched.

I am very pleased with the final outcome. This is perhaps my favourite clock in the series and, when finished, I added my name to the face and back of the clock with great pride.

- Mark Avis

I always smile when I think back to the making of this Iron Clock.

It was only the second clock in this series, so all the challenges of creating my first Iron Clock were fresh in my mind. I had sketched out some ideas of how to realise this new creation – and I hoped that these notes would save me repeating previous mistakes.

Mid-summer heat drove me outside to work. It can get impossibly hot inside my workshop, especially when I’m shaping metal. Without thinking, I placed my sketches close by so that I could glance at them from time to time.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before welding sparks flew onto the pages, and the whole lot went up in flames. I moved fast, stamping on the papers in an attempt to save what I could. They ended up completely charred!

Luckily, I don’t rely very heavily on my sketches. In fact, I can’t draw properly to save my life. Somehow, working in three dimensions comes naturally to me. Each piece really does take shape in my hands.

Finally, I completed this, my second Iron Clock. I get tremendous pleasure from adding my name to the face and the back of the clock, and finally hand polishing my completed work before I eventually say goodbye.

- Mark Avis