File:Elizabeth King Idea for a Mechanical Eye 1988-90.jpg

Sculpture by Elizabeth King, Idea for a Mechanical Eye (cast acrylic, carved wood, brass and springs; eyeball diameter .75"; eye, eyelids and socket independently movable; 1988–90. Eyeball made in collaboration with ocularist Earle C. Schreiber. Collection of Hood Museum of Art). The image illustrates a key body of work in Elizabeth King's career beginning in the 1980s: figurative sculptures of heads, arms and hands, eyes and half or full bodies that combined exacting handcraft and elementary mechanics, and digital and electronic technologies. This image depicts a fabricated single eye with movable, carved wooden lids that King exhibited on its own and employed in stop-action animations, including one in which the video animation was projected through a glass lens that appeared to hover in space, coming into focus only from a certain vantage point. This work was publicly exhibited in prominent exhibitions, discussed in major art journals and daily press publications and acquired by a major museum.

Artist Elizabeth King. Copyright held by the artist.

Elizabeth King (artist)

Detail

Yes

The image serves an informational and educational purpose as the primary means of illustrating a key body of work in Elizabeth King's career beginning in the 1980s, when she produced figurative sculptures of heads, arms and hands, eyes and half or full bodies that combined exacting handcraft and elementary mechanics, and digital and electronic technologies. These works reflect her interests in early clockwork automata, the history of the mannequin and puppet, literature involving unnatural figures come to life, and the movement of the human body. King has often employed the physical sculptures in stop-action animations or photographs and juxtaposed them with their virtual, animated doubles in installations. Because the article is about an artist and her work, the omission of the image would significantly limit a reader's understanding and ability to understand this foundational body of work, which brought King wide recognition through museum exhibitions and acquisitions and coverage by major critics and publications. King's work of this type and this series is discussed in the article and by critics cited in the article.

There is no free equivalent of this or any other of this series by Elizabeth King, and the work no longer is viewable, so the image cannot be replaced by a free image.

The image will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original due to its low resolution and the general workings of the art market, which values the actual work of art. Because of the low resolution, illegal copies could not be made.