In “Entertaining the Guest,” from Can You See What I See? Out of This World, jesters juggle and dance for seated royals. Wick photographed and zoomed in on these models until everything tiny became massive, a child’s eye-view of a microcosmic world. And the models used for his Can You See What I See? books are the exhibition’s most delightful components, with detailed dioramas of fairy-tale castles, haunted houses, and beach shacks presented alongside their accompanying photographs.
In “Balancing Act,” created for the Kids Gallery of the Connecticut Science Center, Wick balanced 117 objects on a Lego block without any adhesive (stepping on a Lego is excruciating, so I’ve never doubted their strength).
Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic, installation view at the Lowe Art MuseumĮven when illusions aren’t part of the image, there’s a fun novelty to each photograph. Every book has a theme - I Spy Christmas, I Spy School Days - and the first book (simply titled I Spy) contains several, with chapters like “Toys in the Attic” and “Make Believe.” Unaware that their purpose was ultimately educational, I treated them like contraband during classroom “reading time,” trying to find books large enough to cover them and pretend I was reading those instead. Each book in the series, authored by Jean Marzollo and published by Scholastic Press, features photographs by Walter Wick of elaborately arranged objects, accompanied by instructions to locate specific items in the colorful morass. The images have a preternatural warmth, exquisitely lit and glowing. MIAMI - When I was young, I thought the famous I Spy books were designed purely for entertainment.
Walter Wick, model for “Entertaining the Guest” from Can You See What I See? Out of This World (2013) (all works part of the Collection of New Britain Museum of American Art, all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted)
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