I first came upon a Magiscope sculpture about five years ago when an auction house was selling five small tabletop pieces. They were new and different and beautiful with their irregular metal stands and round glass tops embedded with bubble-like lens.
I had never seen anything like them, and learned that they had been made by Feliciano Bejar, a self-taught Mexican artist known for these steel and glass sculptures.
Since that time, Magiscopes have popped up for sale frequently at this auction house, usually the tabletop models the same size as the ones I had originally seen. A few weeks ago, I came face to face with a Magiscope that was taller than me, at almost seven feet.
As I wandered around the auction house, I noticed that there lots of them, both table tops of various sizes and floor models. One floor model had a diamond-shaped head. Another was about half its size in height and bore the same type of top as the seven-feeter – four half-moon shapes. Each of the Magiscopes were made by Bejar and engraved with his name. The tall one sold for $1,800, and the 4 ½ feeter sold for $1,300. Others sold for $375 to $500.
I was able to peer through the tall one at eye level. Looking through was like peering through giant raindrops – if there are such things.
“Some distort, some define, but always they give us a new vision,” Bejar, who died in 2007, said in describing his sculptures. “As their generic name indicates, they are instruments to see magically, to see the magic and poetry that exists all around us all the time, but that our indifferent eyes do not wish to perceive.”
If you ever come across one of these, be sure to peer through. They are amazing.
