Mechanism of Eli Terry Clock 1940

This drawing of the Mechanism of an Eli Terry Clock was made by Herman O. Stroh sometime in the 20th Century. The drawing is like a diagram, a study of the way things work and fit together. The process, like a clock, is set in motion. Stroh gives incredible attention to the qualities of the materials, the grain of the wood, and the rusted texture of the weights. I’m thinking about the small metal rod that connects the gears. It has this beautiful bend in it, as if it’s sighing under the weight of time, and the gears look almost flower-like. The drawing reminds me a little of the work of outsider artists like Henry Darger, whose work was similarly painstaking and detailed. But while Darger was interested in the epic, Stroh is interested in the everyday. Art, like time, is just an ongoing conversation.