#object to be destroyed

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Man Ray

Indestructible Object (or Object to Be Destroyed)

1964 (replica of 1923 original)

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Man Ray, Object to Be Destroyed

Object to Be Destroyed was originally created in 1923. The work consists of a metronome with a photograph of an eye attached to its swinging arm. After the piece was destroyed in 1957, later remakes in multiple copies were renamed Indestructible Object:

“Cut out the eye from a photograph of one who has been loved but is seen no more. Attach the eye to the pendulum of a metronome and regulate the weight to suit the tempo desired. Keep going to the limit of endurance. With a hammer well-aimed, try to destroy the whole at a single blow.”

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Man Ray | Objet à détruire - Object to be Destroyed

Man Ray's celebrated combination of a metronome with a photograph of an eye affixed with a paperclip to the swinging arm was first created in 1922-3 and titled Object to be Destroyed (Objet à détruire). As Man Ray later explained: 'I had a metronome in my place which I set going when I painted - like the pianist sets it going when he starts playing - its ticking noise regulated the frequency and number of my brushstrokes. The faster it went, the faster I painted; and if the metronome stopped then I knew I had painted too long, I was repeating myself, my painting was no good and I would destroy it. A painter needs an audience, so I also clipped a photo of an eye to the metronome's swinging arm to create the illusion of being watched as I painted. One day I did not accept the metronome's verdict, the silence was unbearable and since I had called it, with a certain premonition, Object of Destruction, I smashed it to pieces.' (Schwarz, p.206.)

In 1933, responding to a series of exhibition requests, Man Ray remade the object. In 1932 he had been left by his lover of three years, the model and photographer Lee Miller, and it was her eye which appeared in this new version. Man Ray had published a drawing of the new version in a magazine called This Quarter.  The instructions attached to the drawing revealed the extent of his hurt. He wrote: 'Legend, Cut out the eye from a photograph of one who has been loved but is seen no more. Attach the eye to the pendulum of a metronome and regulate the weight to suit the tempo desired. Keep doing to the limit of endurance. With a hammer well-aimed, try to destroy the whole at a single blow.' (This Quarter, vol.I, September 1932, p.55.) .....

Read more via Tate

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                                           Objet à détruire

                                                © Man Ray

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Metronome The City - Object To Be Destroyed (2009)

New Orleans band Metronome The City self released this album in 2009. It's a good representation of the progressive instrumental music coming out of New Orleans at that time. Download and check out their other releases below.

Metronome The City - Object To Be Destroyed (2009)

1) Border Blaster  2) A8  3) Snow Job  4) WR 104  5) Nard On Feet  6) Styer Faces  7) Surfdubssludge  8) Laser Back  9) Metronomics  10) Thunderhead

Check out their first album, "Electric Elements Exposed" HERE

AND a split with I, Octopus HERE