50% OFF! Limited Time. Regular Price: $350.
We're running out of time, it's fast escaping. So we try to turn it back, maybe go back in a time machine. Did we squander precious time, or didn't make time for everything?
To this train of time-related thoughts, we'd like to add one more, which jewelry designer-artist John Wind transformed into a physical, wearable art form, a necklace called: "Suspended Time".
This necklace is a rare creation from 1986 showcasing a mixed media collage pendant with elements that include a clock face, a snake, an airplane, a heart, flowers and leaves, faux gemstones, and gilt filigree and chains.
We located only one other, similar but not the same exact design, in the collection of the Dina Wind Art Foundation. Named after Wind's mother, an artist-sculptor who created room-size installations out of found objects, the foundation helps give public exposure to "innovative artists, sculptors and institutions" in the Philadelphia area. It is from this collection that we learned the name of this piece, and when it was created.
1986 was just a year after John Wind and his friend, Hilary Jay, launched the company Maximal Art. The company's first big hit, one that, according to Wind, "put them on the map", was of a bracelet with four vintage watch heads. Found-object collage jewelry became the company's signature, and the style they developed was "a precursor to Steampunk".
Our necklace seems to represent the best of Maximal Art aesthetics (these days, the company is still around but mostly creates personalized (initials) jewelry. Interestingly, its original owner was a Dallas resident whose home reflected the same edgy, industrialized style that this necklace has.
Our necklace has for a centerpiece a large collage pendant with a white enameled watch face as its focal point. It has elegant, elongated Roman numerals instead of numbers. It has no hands, but has a smaller subdial for tracking seconds.
Only 2/3 of the watch face is showing. The other third has a cluster of mixed, disparate objects that include a gilt snake, a tiny gilt airplane, and an etched faux onyx black heart. In between these three are clusters of gilt leaves and a gilt rose, plus a faux (or genuine, not sure) coral nugget, an elongated pink and clear givre crystal, pink rhinestones and gilt chains.
The entire collage measures about 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" and are held together by a base of clear (now yellowed" resin.
The hard resin also encases the multi-chains from which this pendant hangs. The chains mimic the collage look, as they are made of different types: thick and thin chainlinks as well as black beaded ones. One side of the chains segment has a rose quartz nugget. Both segments have industrial-sized chain links closer to the clasp. The clasp is not the kind used for necklaces. It's big with one end that swivels, the type used for purse straps, luggages or key rings.
The necklace has a total length of about 21 1/2" inches, and can be worn shorter, depending on where you hook the clasp. The length of the multi-chains is shorter on one side than on the other, so the centerpiece can be positioned asymmetrically as well.
Marked Maximal Art at the base of the see-through resin.
In good to very good condition. The collage pendant is in fabulous shape; all the elements are intact and vibrant. The smaller chains are also in wonderful shape, richly gilt. The largest of the chain links towards the ends, plus the large clasp, have faded with time, they're pale goldtone now. Still, this does not detract from the unique beauty of this piece.