Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Walking along Praed street from Paddington underground or overground station, hurrying along, thinking of the time you are expected for lunch or other appointments, you see a large clock above.
The Clock
The clock is a round clock projecting from the wall above you. It appears to have a man inside it, wiping the glass.
We looked at it, mesmerized by the movement, and asked each other, "Is that a real man.
The Question
It looked like a real man. We debated this. "Yes, it's a real man."
"No, it can't be."
"Yes, it is."
We went off to lunch, other matters on our minds.
A Second Look
However, when we came back from lunch two hours later, he was still there. We stopped again.
Close up of clock face by Maarten. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Then we decided it was not a real man.
"A real man could not have spent two hours on the same bit of glass. So what is it?"
"It must be some kind of optical illusion, or joke!"\
Determined Research
The image stayed in my mind. Hours later, I looked it up.
I searched on Google. Paddington. Clock, Man in clock.
I was rewarded with an instant result. Straight to the website of the creator of the clock.
The designer of this clock, a Dutch man, lives in the Netherlands,.
The Clock Creator's Name
His first or given or personal name is Maarten. That is Dutch for Martin. The origin of the name is Mars, the Roman God of war and fertility, from who we get the name of the month of March.
His surname or family name is Baas. That is a Dutch or north German name meaning boss or overseer.
Maarten - He has made more than one of these clocks continaingfigures. You can clooks on his website.
Grandfather Clocks
He also does a series of grandfather clocks. He inserts the realistic face of grandfather behind the clockface as if the old man is inside the clock.
Amusing. A bit distracting from the time shown by the hands. But something to brihten up your day.
Memory Lasting All Day
By bedtime we were still debating about this phenommenon.
"How was it created?"
"Easy. Just a projected film."
"It has to be 3D, of a person wiping, a window cleaning.'
"But, the person leans forward to inspect the glass and beomes larger.'
Long Lasting Image
What keeps a memory in your mind? A question does. A whodunnit. News stories about unsolved murders. For the same reason that people do crosswords. Our minds are geared to solve puzzles. Magic shows, Stunts.
The unusual. Ideas you cannot yet classify. The midn does not know where to store them. It's like the unusual item which could be a bomb on the underground station. The signs remind, you, have you seen something suspicious. See something, say something.
I went to sleep with this surprising, slightly unsettling man in clock image in my minds.
Positive Thoughts
However, it was unsettling in a good, charming way. A jolke. A urprise.
Why did I like it? It was intriguing. Not so much a clock as a work of art. A moving, kinetic work of art. totally new and orinal. Baffling like a maagic trick or whodunnit.
But positive. The man is busy working. Cleaning up the world. The invenotor of the artwork has created something totally new, thinking 'outside the bos'. In this case, inside the clock.
Finally, I typed in the question, how did Baas create his clocks? This time I was sent back to good old Wikipedia which revealed more. Each clock is different.
the man ic creating or removing the hands. He is painting them on the Schipol clock in Amerstam in the Netherlands.
Picture from Wikipedia which gives more details.
Useful Websites
https://maartenbaas.com/products/real-time-paddington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_(art_series
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A choice of small sizes of Paddington Bear.
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