galleries/exhibitions

Seeing Estonia through Cult Jewellery: Reflections of the exhibition, Estonishing ! 13° from Estonia

To highlight the opening of Estonishing ! 13° in Tallinn that happened on the 16th of November 2016, I’m posting this text I wrote originally for SIRP magazine that was translated into Estonian. Here it is in english for the first time. The original debut of this exhibition took place at SCHMUCK 2016 in the Handwerksmesse in Munich, Germany, 24.02 – 01.03.2016

text by Kellie Riggs

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The Contemporary Jewellery community is not big, but it is unique. It remains to hover somewhere above other, similar creative fields like fashion, design, art and craft. Never quite assimilating, it is instead a combination of the four, taking the best aspects from each of these groups back to its own special atmosphere and turning it into something amazing. The field, its artists and community all can feel like a well-kept secret hidden in plain sight. But in fact, it spans every continent on the globe, found tucked in pockets and hubs rich with cultural relevance and a collective will to express and adorn.

It is one week a year in Munich, Germany that contemporary jewellery’s modesty steps aside and the field (both cultural and academic) is able to come together as one global community acting as a fortified front. It shows the best of itself in broad daylight. Its members flock from every corner of the world, becoming pilgrims. And the jewellery on display itself become relics, housed in specially created spaces that only Munich Jewellery Week can inspire and cultivate. It is all rather cult, as its followers – students, artists, enthusiasts, and collectors alike – have a specific kind of admiration and devotion that can be felt buzzing on the streets of Munich from exhibition to exhibition.

Over the course of the last ten years, Munich Jewellery Week (as it has only recently been known to be called, coinciding with the SCHMUCK event) has grown exponentially. Starting with around ten collateral exhibitions throughout the city in 2006, MJW 2016 boasted over seventy. Whether they are academic classes or artist-run collectives, many diverse international jewellery groups come to show what they do via independent or gallery represented exhibitions. And when done right, they are able to demonstrate particular cultural tendencies in jewellery at large, and illustrate more sensitive cultural perspectives through the particular expressiveness that jewellery provides. Good Contemporary Jewellery is always a lens through which to look into the subtleties of other cultures, national or local, big or small. It is an irreplaceable means to understand how different cultures or subcultures feel about certain elusive subjects – many of which are quite intimate – as jewellery is a relatively intimate affair to begin with.

So what does it mean for jewellery to be from a certain place? From Estonia? What kind of illustration does the world have of this country through the jewellery that comes out of it? I myself can only speak to an outsider’s perspective and reflect on the impression that’s been made in places like Munich where Estonian artists have been able to show face together against the backdrop of a contrasting cultural framework. In one way or another they act as a collective ambassador, providing one of the few and probably most profound windows through which one can catch a glimpse of this fascinating (and largely mysterious) land. In all actuality, Estonia and Estonian Contemporary Jewellery remain the subject of intrigue in the international Contemporary Jewellery community; there seems to be a special kind of force field that surrounds it, one that recalls magic and evokes a curious kind of arousal.

This year in Munich, Estonian jewellery artists could be found in many places. The work of Nils Hint, more blacksmith than jeweler, was included in one of the highest quality international exhibitions in the city, (IM)PRINT. Three of the more internationally prolific artists were selected for the prestigious juried SCHMUCK exhibition that takes place every year in the Handwerksmesse Exhibition Hall: Kadri Mälk, Tanel Veenre, and Linda Al-Assi. And Darja Popolitova, who just recently graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, was selected for the congruent TALENTE exhibition. But somewhere within the maze of uninspired booths of international jewellery galleries that surrounded these shows, the real gem could be found: the exhibition, “ESTONISHING !”, presented by Thomas Cohn Gallery, co-curated by the gallerist himself, and artist, Tanel Veenre. The magnetism of the work of this group of Estonian artists was so strong that it could be felt in São Paulo, Brazil (where Mr. Cohn is located), and convincing enough to come together for exhibition in Munich. As far as I know, it was also Mr. Cohn’s first year presenting the gallery at the Handwerksmesse, which is a big deal.

That right there is magic. Some kind of supernatural connection brought these seemingly disparate people together. And speaking of connection, what is it that connects these thirteen Estonian artists to one another? I find this question to be often reoccurring, as there is some kind of pull, something very grounded, something only sensed but invisible, that ties Estonian work together in a way that is so unique, it is simply not found in other Contemporary Jewellry circles in other countries. They appear spiritually united, and at this point in the history of Contemporary Jewellery, this is now universally recognized. But how?

This very question of connection was precisely what Veenre sought to examine when organizing the exhibition. He asked: Is it patience, an endeavour for holiness, assurance, or hope that connects us? Is is melancholy? These questions are perhaps not meant to be solved, rendering a smart and lyrical way to ask the viewer to really look into the jewellery on display and investigate their vulnerability and universality.

This is an intriguing question, and quite a responsible line of inquiry considering whom it’s coming from. Throughout the years, Veenre has not only unofficially been the spokesperson for Estonian Jewellery as a whole by giving a face and a voice to this special sect of the jewellery field to international eyes and ears – but he is also one of the few brave artists in general leading the way for change and new relevancy for the field of Contemporary Jewellery as a whole, by more closely associating it to other art and cultural genres. And as such, the Estonian team has followed with a reputation of taking itself seriously (having high quality exhibitions, publications, and have created a solid identity) while working with and enjoying a special sense of fantasy, mysticism and poetry that is always captivating and uniquely their own.

Some of the more intriguing and relevant work included in ESTONISHING ! came from Nils Hint, a younger face in the field that is getting noticed on an international level more and more steadily for his flattened iron work. He takes ready-made tools like wrenches from the scrap yard to join and then flatten using a power hammer and other blacksmithing techniques. The more striking pieces in this exhibition however were those more three-dimensional, utilizing iron elements as means to draw. Purposefully phallic or cross-like objects (like his Mahine1 (Manful) brooch, forged iron, 2015) were created to imply a “childish or primitive kind of street art, like dicks drawn on the wall,” says the artist.

Alternatively, Ketli Tiitsar and her Teine Olemus (Second Nature) brooches and necklace, made from ash wood, silver, pigment (2016) added a more internal sensibility to the show. The pieces, visually delicate and alive speak about Tiitsar’s personal memory utilizing materials from places that she knows, in an intimate manner of speaking. The wood recalls her family’s tradition of cutting firewood to heat their home, and in a sense she carries on with that repetitive tradition through her practice while paying respect to it at the same time. They are also very hip and modern pieces which is an excellent juxtaposition to the sentimentality involved.

Maarja Niinemägi’s simple and elegant engraved stone brooches, Ööparved (Night Floats), are also noteworthy for their pure and natural qualities. Essentially collages made from milky opal, buffalo horn, mother of pearl, silver and gold (2013), they are made to inspire a sense of grouping and collective metaphorical floating.

Although just three examples here, from the outside, it looks as though it must also be nature that connects most of these Estonian jewellery artists. What runs true and deep in someone sometimes goes personally unnoticed or unsaid because it is so much a part of them; their bond to nature didn’t need to be verbalized to be felt.

And what about the connection made by their fearless leader, Kadri Mälk? Veenre poses this question as well, as all the artists are alumni of the Estonian Academy of Arts from the jewellery and Blacksmithing department, twelve of the thirteen being Mälk’s former students. The veneration of this woman, who has been a professor at EAA for a long long while, reverberates far beyond the confines of Estonia and is inextricable from the work of any of her alumni no matter how far it travels. Needless to say Mälk herself was also a part of this exhibition, her dark pieces swirling with qualities of secrecy and fascination seem to provide us a window into her soul. This characteristic, rarely found to be so strong in Contemporary Jewellery, illicits a feeling of witchcraft and seduction, further breathing life into the cult-like nature Estonian Contemporary Jewellery possesses. It is safe to say that today’s Estonian jewellers are their own leg of the jewellery cult (Cult Jewellery, let’s go on to call it), and they have the world’s attention.

Nils Hint

Maarja Niinemägi

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Ketli Tiitsar

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The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue designed by Asko and Julia Maria Künnap. In addition to presenting the work, each artist reveals something about themselves through one Estonian word and an illustrative image.

Curators: Thomas Cohn and Tanel Veenre

Participating artists:
Kadri Mälk, Tanel Veenre, Piret Hirv, Kristiina Laurits, Villu Plink, Nils Hint, Sofja Hallik, Eve Margus-Villems, Darja Popolitova, Maria Valdma, Julia Maria Künnap, Maarja Niinemägi, Ketli Tiitsar

The design of the exhibition is a collaboration by all the participating artists.

Supporters: Thomas Cohn, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Susan Cummins, Helena Pahlman, Mart Kalm, Law Office Ehasoo&Partners, SA Noor Ehe, Emil Urbel

The Bright House

September 30, 2014

galleries/exhibitions, REVIEWS

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Saturday September 27, Camucia – Cortona, Italy / location: Tenimenti Luigi d’Alessandro Winery

The Bright House, a review

by Kellie Riggs

I used to talk frequently of the dream show; I never knew what it was exactly or what it looked like, but the idea was basically to imagine a space where jewelry could truly be itself, speaking for itself without too much help. The work would be together yet independent, emboldened by its company and especially by its surroundings, surroundings much different than your average jewelry exhibition, someplace more inviting. But what kind of new space would it have to be, to give each individual piece its own privacy so to speak, it’s own fortified spotlight beyond the pretense of what we are used to seeing in an installation?

The word dream implies beyond reality, the ideal, exaltation even, and that’s exactly what The Bright House was – a 48 hour ultimate jewelry fantasy if you will – if as though contemporary jewelry threw itself an exclusive, budget-less birthday party with the highest consideration of taste, beauty and even restraint. But what else would one expect when the background for the show is the grounds of a spacious and immaculate Tuscan Villa, with the colors and winds of nature sweeping through the air like magic? There were no white walls to be found here, just glass as though the surrounding structures to the jewelry were nothing more than an illusion, almost an invisible stage for the jewels on display. No cases, no security, an open invitation to touch, to try, and the opportunity for dialogue as many of the artists were also present. A feeling of safety and calmness was in circulation, a true haven of delicacies, many of which were gold.

The show was defined by two groupings of work in two locations of display, both a glass house separated by a beautiful foot path that seemed to encourage a reflectiveness of the experience. As the groomed nature infiltrated the exhibition space through the windows the textural components of each body of work was rightfully amplified; even Helen Britton’s industrial-esque work began to really belong to the environment, the movement of her cuffs became leaflike, the colors echoing the fallen foliage in the grass just yards away and the sounds they make during interaction would perhaps compliment walking in the grass through the signs of the approaching fall. Across the space was another compliment to the show’s surroundings, but this time more to the light through the trees and the changing hues of green, like in the work of Jamie Bennet, paired nicely with Peter Bauhius who presented three natural pebble-like necklaces.

Across the room was a Smörgåsbord of geometric golden treats all of which were characteristically Babetto, the most exciting piece being a quite impressively flexible and reversible square component necklace defying physical odds when handled. Anytime I see Babetto’s work I know i’m in the right place.. he brings a sense of ease to the room somehow, as by seeing him you know the rest of the work from other artists has got to be worth something. Giampaolo Babetto is my first jewelry hero and seeing new iterations of himself, which his work always seems to be, is exciting for me in all of its variations and subtleties; take for example the use of a rustic, rusty red pigment seen in his new work.

Up the footpath and into the next glass house of which the back wall features a bit of the outside world. Giant rocks climbing up the walls frame a mirrored fountain and in its vicinity more treasures are to be found. To the right Manfred Bischoff has a row of his sculptural and almost cryptically narrative gold work which are always an impressive sight, opposite that of Jacqueline Ryan whose more intimate and textural work dazzles. Ryan’s presence reintroduces the show’s connection with the surrounding nature through surface quality and moments of movement. She also forms a somewhat unexpected association to Patrick Davison’s non jewelry work (found in the same room) through shared pattern and geometry. Davison, whose pieces are the only of its kind in the exhibition, is also by far the youngest artist present, proving his work to be even more impressive than a first glance will lead on.

Something I found delightful about this exhibition is that many of the artists echo one another in sometimes indistinct yet fun ways. Rike Bartels (shown in the first glass house) to Bischoff though is perhaps too obvious an example, obvious to the the point that Bartels becomes a bit amiss once Bischoff is discovered. Alternatively, Ryan’s work is the glue of the whole exhibition noted in the way she positively brings the two spaces together, well balancing both Babetto and Britton’s work through kinetics and form, and recollecting Ferràn Iglesias’ extremely delicate, patient and passionate gold wire work from the previous room.

The Bright House is much much greater than the sum of its parts. There is no question here whether the work is good or of the highest quality, yet I will note that this particular group is surely not the most relevant or contemporary of groups in the scene at large today. In a field that seems to get fresher and fresher every year, choosing such traditionalists could have posed a problem. But on the contrary, some of the artists here are introspective legends and masters of material and they deserve the space for uninterrupted tactile and even spiritual reflection that this exhibition successfully provided… all very much dream-like to say the least.

Jacqueline Ryan

Jewelry and Culture with Volker Atrops

November 12, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, INTERVIEWS, jewelry (or jewellery)

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aka Secret Recordings No.1

CONFESSION: Justified as research yet an attempt that left me feeling awkward and kind of embarrassed, I secretly recorded every single conversation I had with artists/gallerists/etc during Schmuck week 2012 in Munich, Germany. I am only now in the process of transcribing these conversations.

Over a year and a half ago I walked into Volker Atrops’ exhibition, No Stone Unturned, at the Zipprich antiquarian bookstore where we fell into a delightful conversation about perspectives on jewelry and its cultural relevance. Below are the highlights of our conversation (his text is black, where I chime in is grey), as well as images from the exhibition.

Images and info about his Munich 2013 exhibition are to follow.

Mr. Atrops has kindly given me his permission to post this text.

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2012 – NO STONE UNTURNED

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The jewelry scene is a special club. And this club works over the whole world and that gives you an impression that something is going on. For example, Otto Kunzli, my old professor, in this world, is quite famous. He has a lot of students – but when I switched over to my home country, nobody knows about the whole scene. And here (Munich) people come in and say oh nice show, maybe it’s been 60 people from all over the world. But if I make the same exhibition in my area nobody is really – it’s not inside the scene. So that is a pity that is isn’t really cultural, there are only somethings – Peter Skubic, he put a silver plate under his skin, you know? It was a time -1979, punk, they started to make piercings… and so this has to do with the time. Jewelry was going into body manipulation. It was really special; it was a kind of culture. Peter Skubic was sensitive, but in general it didn’t come from the academies, it came from punk, from whatever, music, and I think for the schools, it’s a pity that all this talent and all this –

There’s nowhere for it to go.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

Yeah, if you study engineering, sometimes you make a new car, maybe, and the car drives on the street, and you’re part of the whole culture. And when we study here in the academies, in Australia, in Providence, or in Amsterdam, in Stockholm, it doesn’t matter, you make work – or it was like this- you make work just for the club… mostly, not every time. Sometimes people try to get over this kind of border, sometimes.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned What is the ideal environment that you would chose for a piece of yours?

Environment?

Yeah, I mean where would you like it to live? Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

That is easy. That is, you! A girl, a boy… it doesn’t matter. And so for a show, I have often some show pieces, but not so much, not only show pieces, which is good in between – but mostly I try… big rings – sometimes so for collectors, or museum shows, for the serious goldsmith/jewelry art scene collectors, I make some bigger pieces. And also when you work for fashion, you work totally different, if it has to show up on the catwalk, it’s totally different work. It’s about the size sometimes instead of what it has to do with.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

What about problems relating to typical display conventions, of a gallery for example, and how that might distance the object’s pursuit for its idea environment on a body and everything it could mean…

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

Environment… environment. I don’t want to show an environment. But maybe it’s a language problem… environment for me is this room or something. But this room, it’s like a living room a little bit. Because the pieces aren’t going out so fast, it’s not a product. All theses books had living rooms, and now it’s still kind of a living room. And to show is quite easy somehow – yes it’s best to do it also with privacy. If you decide to buy a jewel it has to touch you, it’s not about – you don’t think like a picture or a movie, or other art. So it’s totally different. When they come in (to the exhibition), mostly women, and they choose the jewelry, they make really fast decisions. I like it or I like it not, it’s really fast. It looks like it’s without thinking. And sometimes I wonder if it fits quite well. Not every time, because sometimes it’s a collector and they want to show it’s from Daniel Kruger or Manfred Bischoff, or, it doesn’t matter. They want to show off they are collectors in the scene. Outside the scene, if you have a show somewhere else and people want to have a piece of jewelry and how they desire, is really pure. Because it has such an old history, older than painting. It’s very sexual, it’s like hair going into ornament… so it really has to do with life, your body, not dying… so if you connect something to your body, it is what stays. You have something and you die and the warmth comes, and then it stays.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

Do you think the people that buy your work think about these things? Or are we the makers the only ones?

No no no. I think no body really thinks about it, but they know all about it. They have this in common in every culture,, everyone knows about it, everywhere. Ok so if I name it now, it is not so important because everyone know is it already but the don’t talk about it, they know it. But it doesn’t matter if someone, a little girl, if you put a nice flower behind your ear or something it is also kind of jewelry, it’s nice. The flower is a pure sexual organ, and people, humans, don’t think about that either, but they know. Do you know what I mean? I make myself nice with that attribute. And that is what is so important and more important for jewelry than with art, the art scene, and I don’t know other names…

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

Would you personally like a wider more art based/intellectual audience for your work?

Yeah I like it. Most friends of mine – because I really like art, in Berlin, also I studied at the academy and most of my friends are artists, some of them are very good but not good at selling, and others are higher end, rich – and yeah I like it very much. Art is really nice, but I think for jewelry, it is really, really difficult. And with the quality of jewelry, it is so close to the body, this is the difference, it’s so close to, what do I say, life, humanity. In art you try to make the whole picture artificial, the whole life you want to show! In a movie! In an art piece, you want an artificial piece of life you want to show somehow, that is high-end art. In jewelry, you’re still a part of life and this is the difference. With jewelry you add to life a dead thing, but you add it, you know? You add it to humans. I add something to you. In art they want to make a whole picture and they make you a second time. Yeah it is quite easy.

You think it’s easy? Yeah but I make it really easy to explain.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

Sometimes I wonder why jewelry is marginalized or placed in a supplementary category, but other days, I think that all the things that define jewelry are so special and unique that why should I care if it doesn’t end up penetrating fine art. Why do I care? I care because I think more people should get to understand why we love it and appreciate it so much, I mean it was so easy for you to say all these things, that you say people know but don’t think about, but I would love for everybody to think about them, and I don’t know how to solve that.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

It’s nice, if you have people who are rightly educated or know about all these art things, it’s nice to talk… but the really basic thing is that these people sometimes lose the way, the professors… they’re really into this jewelry art and they sometimes lose the way, so they don’t get the point anymore. So they stretch the borders, it’s quite nice also…

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

They might be trying to please too many people?

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

It’s also ok, and it’s also kind of cute… what could happen if they really stay or came to the real point? I said to Manon van Kouswijk, in the 1990’s was making a lot of pearl chains, this really really basic jewelry piece in a lot of ways… the sexuality, it’s pure, it’s a jewelry piece that has worked for how long make man can think. Something else that’s more culture, something like gold; if I make the same exhibition in my area where nobody knows about he jewelry scene and I make it in iron, it’s difficult, it’s not possible, not really. Nobody will buy anything. They say, OH nice show! Oh, you have ideas? You are very creative, oh! But If I make the same show in a big city, or kind of the same show in gold, everyone would say, ahhhh, I want to have it, only because it’s gold, and so it’s about culture.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

I like this idea as an experiment, maybe making the same body of work in two materials yet indistinguishable, to see what would happen.

Because in art there is also kind of – if you put something, everything, in Germany, in the white cube, and then you put something on a pedestal, that is something really important for a lot of people; Ahh that must be higher than me, also these things are quite important.

Volker Atrops - No stone unturned

**The textile pieces shown in this show were from the artist’s wife, Brigitte Atrops, as until 2010 she was part of the Berlin based label Boessert-Schorn.

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2013 – VINTAGE VIOLENCE

The background to the exhibition is as follows:

“Some time ago, I was invited to exhibit in a nineteenth century villa, where I made an exciting discovery. Behind the villa was a stranded ghost ship, in the form of an enormous, abandoned jewellery factory, the captain of which was still sitting behind stacks of dusty files and reading the latest newspaper. The ship’s lieutenant led me through the treasure-filled wreck… A year later my wife and I returned on a 14-day mission to hammer out the bitter remnants of the past. Embossing, punching, winding… the 1950s fashion-jewellery aluminium we found went into the early-industrial machines with such finality, that it was almost impossible to reproduce standard pieces, as is the case with genuine handicrafts. Through cottage-industryesque labour, the crude output of the machines was bound together into sheaves of lovely jewels. The pieces are numbered and stamped with BfG (Bund für Gestaltung / Confederation of Design ). The title “Vintage Violence” as well as the arrangement of the scene photographed for the invitation card are taken from a completely different context and originate from an early 1970s’ record sleeve (John Cale). Despite all the retrospect, the pieces are completely fresh and untarnished and were on display for the first time in the Zipprich antiquarian bookstore, within the wider context of the Internationale Handwerksmesse ‘Schmuck’ exhibition.”

volker atrops - vintage violence volker atrops w/ CO

back and forth – Liesbeth den Besten + Stefan Friedemann

May 30, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery)

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Really interesting dialogue going on at AJF between writer/reasearcher Liesbeth den Besten and Ornamentum’s Stefan Friedemann. I find that Liesbeth’s response to Friedemann also functions quite well as a clear and accurate breakdown of the systems of contemporary jewelry as compared to the fine art world, even a solid introduction. They are both definitely worth the read, as this kind of open and critical conversation doesn’t get much better. LET’S KEEP IT GOING

click below for their texts:

Stefan Friedemann: Letter to Liesbeth den Besten

Liesbeth den Besten: Letter to Stefan Friedemann

These texts are part of AJF’s In Sigh Series.

What Is It That You Do Exactly?

May 9, 2013

art (question mark), ARTICLES/TEXTS, galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery), semantics

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What Is It That You Do Exactly? | Art Jewelry Forum <—- click here!

forever young at gallery spektrum, 2012

HELLO READERS! So happy to announce that after months of waiting, the article I wrote for AJF is finally published on their site. It addresses the lack of categorization within contemporary jewelry work and experiments with trying to do that by breaking apart the different types of exhibitions that we have. Give it a read and tell me what you think.

Here’s a quote I used from Bruce Althsuler to try and demonstrate contemporary jewelry’s relatively slow pace when it comes to dealing with new categories:

Institutional structures created at an earlier time to meet different needs are being called into question by new artistic media and by the use of the term contemporary to designate a particular kind of artwork. Alternative conceptions of the artwork and new technologies have created special problems of preservation and conservation. Broader social and political changes have generated new artistic categories and have broken down established national and ethnic divisions, all of which have affected how collections are built and their contents organized.”

(From Collecting the New)

Looking at past and current exhibitions is one way we can begin to think about breaking down how we consider and value what is being made. It’s like working in reverse. Whether the exhibition initiative is institutional or independent, and even if the distinction between assembling, selecting, and curating is lost on exhibition organizers (as it most often is), sorting through various shows and analyzing the associations being forged between pieces and their authors can help us see more clearly what kind of work exists within the field. If certain exhibition types help us identify subgenres within contemporary jewelry, then makers and writers may subsequently discover better ways of defining the work at hand and explaining it to others.

(quoting myself above)

Thank you both Damian Skinner and Benjamin Lignel for editing this piece

tidbit of the day: Nanna Melland and Aaron Decker

April 25, 2013

art (question mark), galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery)

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Artist, Nanna Melland was part of the main Schmuck 2013 exhibition with her work, Swarm, the very first piece ever in Schmuck’s history to be showcased OUTSIDE the plexi-glass case. This is a huge accomplishment, really, and after chatting briefly with the artist about how it came to be, it sounds like it was an up hill battle. If you’ve read previous posts of mine you should know that I tend to loathe work that is restricted behind display cases, and so let’s hope Nanna’s victory set a new precedent for future Schmuck exhibitions, acknowledging that some work deserves a little breathing room and a chance to really connect with its viewers like it’s destined to. The work’s freedom was imperative to its success, as each little aluminum airplane dangling from the wall was up for grabs, an honor system money box sitting beside (or as a part of) the installation.

As the week crawled by in Munich, it was quite touching to see all the people who picked one up, wearing them on their sweaters, each person perhaps from a different city, a different country, all converging at this event. I’d say that Nanna’s work was this year’s glue, really something to remember as it was quite attractive and easy to take one piece home and to feel a part of something bigger (even I bought one, the prices ranged from 10 euro up to 50). It was really something to be appreciated by everyone. Swarm speaks beautifully about the power of jewelry and its potential to map and unite in a way that other art genres are quite frankly, incapable of, at least this intimately. The strength of its singularity is also worth mentioning, as I would say the work of many other artists in our field rely on trying to bolster a piece by placing it among the company of many others quite similar. This piece on the other hand, speaks for its complete self.

Nanna Mellond

Nanna and Aaron
Above are some images of the piece, as well as Nanna pinning my friend Aaron with his newly acquired airplane.

I would say that the work echoes a more open (and much needed) consideration of what contemporary jewelry is and will continue to be, beyond the rigidness of existing definitions or assumptions. To go along with that thought, below is a bit taken from an interview with the artist conducted by Aaron Decker (above), researcher/writer/jeweler, that was originally posted on AJF in September of last year.

How would you define contemporary jewelry?

I guess its like boxes in a cupboard. People usually tend to think of it as one box, jewels as jewels, but today I think we’re past that. There are so many artists working in so many different ways, that to put everyone into one box is not helpful anymore. On the other hand, there is also fashion, trends and the time you’re living in. Each and every individual is unintentionally a part of a trend. We have streams of expressions, periods of time where change occurs and this one cannot see before some time has passed. I think we need jewelry categories in contemporary jewelry. Now there seems to be some confusion. Sometimes confusion is good, but order brings clarity. If contemporary jewelry was more organized I think it would be easier to see more people out there and not just the few who are famous and are representing our so-called contemporary jewelry scene. It is an incredibly difficult question to answer, which I believe and trust the art historians to answer.

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To see the full interview, please click ——-> HERE

Swarm was previously exhibited at Galerie Spektrum in Munich, as well as the Deichmanske Bibliotek, or the main library in Oslo, Norway, among other places and started as a site specific installation.

For more information about Melland and this piece, read —-> THIS by Norwegian Crafts Magazine

Current Obsession Magazine Launch at Schmuck 2013

April 23, 2013

everyone, everything, galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery), publication links

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Have you seen the new Current Obsession Magazine yet? It’s basically the very first of its kind!!!!!!!!

CO originally existed as a blog about contemporary jewelry and then a website (promoting the field through the voices of the artists) created by the talented, Marina Elenskaya (artist and editor in chief of the magazine). And as of March 2013, CO now also exists as a bi-annual printed magazine that debuted at this year’s Schmuck. Marina and Sarah Mesritz (the creative director of the mag) launched the first issue, The Archetype, in Munich, which was really exciting for me because they invited me to be a contributing writer/editor for the issue.

Here I am at Schmuck after having my first look inside the magazine. It’s the first time i’ve been published, and in the photo above, the page is opened to my introduction and interview with Karl Fritsch. The segment shows new pieces by the artist that were also exhibited at two Schmuck exhibitions.

Click —–> here for a peak inside.

I also had the pleasure of working with Alexander Blank on another interview about his new series, also exhibited at Schmuck.

The CO team also asked me to help them create a guide for all the Schmuck events this year to help visitors navigate the city. After having contacted every artist or organizer for all the collateral Schmuck exhibition (for photos and information regarding their event), we tried to create a descriptive teaser, basically CO’s Schmuck 2013 picks, highlighting various initiatives we thought were worth seeing. To see the PDF, click —-> here

Below are some photos of Marina and Sarah giving a presentation at the Messe, where the main Schmuck show was situated.

To learn more about the wonderful backpack and suitcase by the design team Hanemaai shown above, click —> here!

Above, Volker Atrops giving some critical feedback to the team, which you should feel free to do also! We are always looking for comments and are eager to hear what you think.

Marina and contributing editor/husband, Chris van der Kaap at the show, Schmuck You, presented by Galerie Biró Junior and featuring the work of Réka Lorincz and Flora Vági.

Super babes Marina with artist and friend, Suzanne Beautyman

Sarah Mestriz toting around the mag and the guide at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Below is artist/researcher/writer, Aaron Decker, another contributing editor of the CO magazine.

Some team shots, below with superstar, Tanel Veenre

CURRENT OBSESSION
– is a new printed magazine about jewellery and its relation to different fields of art — performance, illustration, photography, etc. Apart from jewellery artists and critics, we feature material researchers, fashion designers, collagists and many more. Our goal is to create a different dimension for jewellery in printed environment. We tell inspiring stories about people and places, touching upon subjects like value, language and presentation.
Our motto is “JEWELLERY IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT “

check it out: OPEN CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS !

“The second issue of the magazine will be about “The Youth” – students, newly graduates, alumni and up-and-coming artists, keeping in mind that being young is not about the age, but about the attitude!
Release date of the second issue – October 2013 launched in Barcelona JOYA/Amsterdam SIERAAD/Eindhoven DDW.

We have created this open call for contributions because we are searching for:

– Projects that connect jewellery to other fields of art/design/fashion: performance, photography, illustration, audiovisual, collage, sculpture, etc.)
– Research projects: material, formal and theoretical
– Great new jewellery!
– Hardworking writers!

Our goal is to show the diversity and potency of the upcoming generation, to outline their standpoint and tendencies and to address the problems and choices the young makers are subject to.

To contribute or for more information, please email to:
info@current-obsession.com with THE YOUTH as the message subject.

Deadline: beginning of June 2013 “

————–

Check out the CO website to order a physical copy of the first issue.

or, here is the LIST OF RETAILERS :

+Klimt02 BARCELONA
+Galerie Rob Koudijs AMSTERDAM
+Gallery Ra AMSTERDAM
+Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum AMSTERDAM
+Do You Read Me!? BERLIN
+You Are Here EINDHOVEN
+Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h MONTREAL (QUEBEC)
+ ATTA Gallery BANGKOK
+Chrome Yellow Books LONDON
+ Galley P’LACE DRESDEN

Schmuck 2013: Maurer-Zilioli Contemporary Arts

April 11, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, history, jewelry (or jewellery)

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ellen maurer zilioli/manfred bischoff

I’ve finally started organizing all my photos from Schmuck 2013, so look out! I couldn’t quite decide how I wanted to break it all down this year, so to keep things simple, I will go chronologically based on the order of what I went to see. In comparison to last year, it’s probably much less; in 2012 I left Munich feeling esaurita, an Italian word that basically means, fucking depleted of any physical or emotional energy. A year ago I thought to myself, if I ever have to see another necklace hanging on the god damn wall, i’ll…. Needless to say I overdid it.

To avoid that feeling, I approached things differently and decided to just see what I’d see, meet who I’d meet and enjoy myself. So in that spirit, I’m happy to say that the delightful Ellen Maurer-Zilioli was the very first on my list to see.

The following is the blurb I wrote for Current Obsession Magazine’s Schmuck Guide (MORE ON THAT SOON!!):

From Brescia, Italy, Maurer Zilioli Contemporary Arts will be showcasing two artist/goldsmiths deemed legends of the field. The work of Bruno Martinazzi (IT) and Manfred Bischoff (DE) converge on grounds beyond that of noble material preference, but also through their shared geographical territory and subtle reference points. Turin-born Martinazzi inherited a devotion to Italy’s visual history, while Bischoff’s references are chosen and interpreted more freely. Dr. Ellen Maurer-Zilioli, gallerist and president of MZ Contemporary Arts, comments on the pair: “For all this complex artistic directionality, what ultimately emerges into the focus of perception are idiosyncratic pieces of jewellery, bearing witness to an irresistibly fragile yet stunningly evident beauty that is on occasion presented with an absurd or ironic twist.”

The exhibition will boast a perfectly digestible amount of work between the two artists. If you’re new to contemporary jewellery, be sure to stop here at the very least (!); it’s a prerequisite to what else is out there, a must see, contemporary jewellery 101, if you will. And the best part is that the exhibition is hosted by the contemporary art gallery, Kunstbüro Reillplast, representing a school of young, but very able artists. CO is excited to see what kind of fresh, new-art eyeballs will land on this work consequently. Maurer Zilioli always aims to bridge the gap between contemporary jewellery and contemporary art; after all, the gallery doubles as a Cultural Association aimed to do to just that.

ellen maurer zilioli/manfred bischoff

The lovely lady herself.

maurer zilioli/babetto

Ellen had some other goodies laying around that weren’t part of the exhibition, like this brooch by Giampaolo Babetto.

ellen maurer zilioli/babetto

This one too…
manfred bischoff

Manfred Bischoff’s golden masterpieces

Unfortunately I got a little sidetracked and forgot to take a photo of my faaaavorite piece of all time, The Madona del Parto, which was inspired by Piero della Francesca’s fresco of the pregnant Virgin in Monterchi, Italy, which I recently visited. Here’s a photo of the piece I stole from the website of the Isabella Stuart Gardner Musuem (Boston, MA), where in 2002, Bischoff had an exhibition.

piero della francesca

Il Gioiello come forma d’arte, Museo Marino Marini Firenze

April 11, 2013

art (question mark), current events, galleries/exhibitions, Italy, jewelry (or jewellery), museum links

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Il Gioiello come forma d’arte Museo Marino Marini Firenze. <———- !!

Contemporary jewelry historian, Maria Cristina Bergesio, is giving another round of talks this year at the Museo Marino Marini in Florence called, jewelry as a form of art.

For five thursdays starting today, april 11, the talks can be heard at the museum with free entrance. Hooray!

Here’s the schedule:

11 aprile 2013 Gioiello come segno. Decorazione, modificazione, distinzione

18 aprile 2013 All is food for art Gioiello contemporaneo e materiali

9 maggio 2013 De rebus naturae Flora e fauna nel gioiello di ricerca

23 maggio 2013 À la recherche du temps perdu Il passato come fonte d’ispirazione per il gioiello di ricerca

6 giugno 2013 Un certain regard Presentazione della mostra Preziosa 2013, che si terrà presso il Museo Marino Marini dal 20 giugno al 20 luglio 2013

The last appointment will be a presentation/exhibition of Preziosa 2013 which includes Karin Seufert, Philip Sajet, Suska Mackert, David Bielander, Sophie Hanagarth, and Sigurt Bronger, and Preziosa Young with winners, Panjapol Kulpapangkorn, Rob Elford, Benedikt Fischer, Karin Roy Andersson, Wan Hee Cho, Chiara Scarpitti, Antje Stolz, and Lauren Vanessa Tickle.

sophie hanagarth

JEWELRY

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ART

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Interview with Maurer-Zilioli

March 4, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, INTERVIEWS, Italy

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I recently finished an interview with Ellen Maurer-Zilioli for Art Jewelry Forum, take a look —-> HERE ! Thanks to Susan Cummins and Ellen for their cooperation. mostra-britton2-600px

L’ESTONIA A PADOVA and other goodies

January 27, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, Italy, jewelry (or jewellery)

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This post is a bit overdue. I had the pleasure of going to Padova at the beginning of December to attend some contemporary jewelry exhibition openings, including Pensieri Preziosi 8, Gioielli dall’Estonia at Marijke Studio, Helfried Kodré: New Works at Galleria Daniele, Vetro Contemporaneo at Studio GR20, and One_first act presented by Padova’s Mixed Media Foundation.

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Pensieri Preziosi 8, La magica poesia

Oratorio di San Rocco in Padova, Italy

click –> here to see the post from last year… it’s really quite interesting to compare the artists from Estonia to Italians who were showcased the year before. Both regions still seem to value traditional material (…metal) more than other geographic regions (…Germany, Holland…), congruent with a relative and local history. And much like the specifically Padovan tradition in goldsmithing, where one can easily see a well maintained lineage between the artists, the Estonians (although not as strongly) here are visually tied to one another and stand as a unique and even fresh group in the world of contemporary jewelry. I’m always a sucker for artists that can utilize time honored making practices in contemporary ways, and these guys are doing it pretty well.

Artists:

KADRI MALK, 1958
KRISTIINA LAURITS, 1975
PIRET HIRV, 1969
EVE MARGUS-VILLEMS, 1972
VILLU PLINK, 1977
TANEL VEENRE, 1977

PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8 PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8, Piret Hirv PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8, Tanel Veenre PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8, KRISTIINA LAURITS PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8, Kadri Mälk OLYMPUS PENSIERI PREZIOSI 8 CAMERA

GIOIELLI DALL’ESTONIA, Marijke Studio

The show included 14 students from the Estonian Academy of Art, Tallin

Artists:

Keiu Koppel, Andrus Rumm, Liina Lõõbas, Katrin Kosenkranius, Urmas Lüüs, Ettel Poobus, Hans-Otto Ojaste, Nils Hint, Anne Reinberg, Birgit Skolimowski, Kairin Koovit, Merilin Tõnisoja, Rita-Livia Erikson, Andreas Lichfeld

at Marijke Studio

Helfried Kodré: New Works, at Galleria Daniele

Helfried is an Austrian artist whose work is basically a perfect fit for Padova.

Helfried Kodré Helfried Kodré DIGITAL CAMERA

The gold squiggle brooch below is just delish, no?

Helfried Kodré

Contemporary Glass: Sculptures, Installations, Jewels at Studio GR20

Artists: Beate Eismann, Iris Nieuwenburg, Evert Nijland, Ruudt Peters, Katja Prins, Andrea Wagner, Maria Grazia Rosin, Management: Graziella Folchini Grassetto

For me this show was probably the most fun, just because I had never been to the gallery before, and because the list of jewelry artists is short and solid. Seeing Beate Eismann’s work was a delight, as well as my good friend Andrea’s work ( I don’t think I’ve ever had this much time to look at any of her pieces!). The gallery is also gorgeous.

Below are the only two photos I could get. For more info and fotos, click—> here

Studio GR20

Above: Beate Eismann

Below : a couple of superstars at the gallery: from the left Kardri Malk, Helfried Kodré, and Stefano Marchetti

Studio GR20

ONE_first act, presented by the Mixed Media Foundation of Padova.

This exhibtion, described as a “living” intallation of international contemporay jewelry, focused on dichotomies of uniqueness/seriality, value/economy, etc…
Artists printed images of their work which were made into simple button pins and the public was invited to detach them and wear them as they wished. The show functioned as more of a preview (“First Act”), as each orignal piece shown as an image will be on display at the show, ONE… which I can’t seem to find any info about. 30 international artists participated.

One_first act

A brief interview with Caroline Van Hoek

January 25, 2013

art (question mark), galleries/exhibitions, INTERVIEWS, jewelry (or jewellery)

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Gallery Facade

Image courtesy of Caroline Van Hoek

KR: Your gallery is located in a space that looks as though it’s still a humble food market. How does the everyday nature of the grocery store reflect the subtleties and universality of artworks in contemporary jewelry?

CVH: Humble is not an aspect I saw in it first although there is a lot of humbleness involved as well !

I recognized going to this kind of shop with my mother and seeing the owner taking extra care of her, she was never the big supermarket kind. He knew what kind of apples she wanted; he knew she liked her tomatoes in this way and not another way. He knew when he could have a season specialty which one he could put aside for her. He would carry it out, keeps things aside. Everything was stacked high and all over and he could still find exactly what he needed. This is the similarity with the current activity of the place. It occurred naturally to my mind, without thinking.

Do you see the gallery as an artwork in and of itself?

I never did, although people start to know of it as “the grocery store” and either they understand or it makes them think and hopefully they get it.

You are also located in an area with other contemporary art galleries. What is the overall reception of your space and of the work you carry in relation to those other galleries? Is it considered equal to the art world on a local level?

Here as for any other jewelry gallery in the world, jewelry is starting to gain more attention in general as a collector’s item. Most people do not know there is something else than high jewelry, couture jewelry, artist jewelry or fashion jewelry. All the types can exist with each other. The most important factor in this comparison is “qualitative” jewelry. “Qualitative” jewelry will gain attention and rise in value, whether it is a nice Cartier piece, a great Chanel bracelet or a Picasso pendant.

Just like many others in our field, it seems that a big part of your mission as an art-jewelry gallerist is to show jewelry from different perspectives than most people outside our sphere are used to. Would you like to speak a bit about your writing projects and what kind of language you’ve needed to develop to do so?

There is not one single answer to that. It’s like when people buy art, some want a whole explanation, some others just want to look at a piece and fall in love with it. As a gallery you feel when is the right level of education necessary for which audience.

What is the importance of travel to your gallery and attending international events like Design Miami for example; events not solely related to contemporary jewelry?

When I started there were some established galleries around. Brussels and Amsterdam are only two hours away from each other. You have to take your ball and find new friends to play with.

How often do you find yourself giving a comprehensive explanation for the type of gallery you have; Would you define your role as a gallerist somewhat similar to that of an educator?

Yes, every day, all day. To everyone, schools, clients and press.

Recently you have celebrated the 5^th anniversary of your gallery. Can you talk a bit about the exhibition, This was 2007?

It is a very personal exhibition and based upon a very limited time frame. It just illustrates how little my environment was when I opened the gallery. It shows work from people I was in touch with, or work that impressed me and work from some artists with whom we work now. It is only a recollection of some interaction. Not a selection based on quality whatsoever.

What would you say has been accomplished since you’ve opened your doors?

Too much to say ! I had nothing and knew nothing, no experience in galleries, no clients, no acquaintances in Brussels, nothing.

What should we look for in the next five years to come?

Hmm, I am dying for some more organization and structure, the rest is a secret :0)

—–

Caroline Van Hoek is a contemporary art jewelry gallery located in Brussels, Belgium.

“Open since 04.10.2007.
Previously a grocery store, the outside facade has been left exactly as it was, to honor what it represents. The local shop around the corner, the close contact with the clientele, the seasonal availability of goods, the limited number of groceries and the respect for the individuality.”

Please visit the gallery website —> here.

Note: This interview was conducted in the fall of 2012 and originally destined for AJF, facilitated by Susan Cummins. Alternatively, ≥ has the pleasure of posting it and thanks Caroline for her participation.

Review of the Opulent Project at Gallery Loupe

January 10, 2013

galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery), REVIEWS

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A Wrap Up: The Opulent Project

By Misha Kahn

Apologies for the time lapse on this review; in movie like form, Kellie and I ran into each other at JFK, and I got bumped and rerouted to go with her to New Orleans for Christmas – so the distraction was mutual, and now fully rested, we’re ready to blog!

wallpaperimage2

As always, there’s something wonderful and challenging about viewing work from younger artists. Usually the challenge is that you start striking connections between your own work and your peers with whom you have a charged relationship, unsure if the direction is valid or progressive. In this case, Meg Drinkwater and Erin Gardner’s reverence to antiquated ornament is one I can relate to and struggle with myself. In contemporizing their chosen forms they bring in some exciting new ideas about how jewelry fits into American society. The work steers clear of gaudy – and even finds a way to present ornament as non-ornament in a sense (hint: paint the wall to match your own ornament to achieve this affect at home!)

The wallpapered wall in a print of a patterned cube in perspective – a familiar pattern of Italian marble floors and a reoccurring visual reference of the likes of Babetto and other Padovan goldsmiths – begs the question of whether the wall itself was as singular piece, or simply a clever way to display the scattered and camouflaged pieces. This optical challenge played into one of my favorite types of unconventional display in the field; I like to call this “find the jewelry,” where the viewer is forced to approach and interact more closely with objects through some sort of slight trickery. With jewelry’s small scale, it can be hard to draw people in close enough to really examine a singular piece individually. With that said, Drinkwater and Gardner’s installation was a fairly effective ploy to get the viewer to look more closely at each jewel. Like chameleons, earrings were powder coated and painted with the same geometric pattern of the wallpaper.

The choice of this almost Escher-esque parquet as a two-dimensional formal reference was strong, as the work feels young and a bit op-arty even though it’s a much older pattern, allowing it to be paired more logically with the silhouettes of the jewelry.

During the show opening, Erin swooped in to show me how the necklaces and earrings can share parts, with pendants from one necklace able to de-attach and clip onto the companion earrings. Another necklace had a brooch pin on the back with a detachable chain.

This transformation was both engaging and humorously aware of the current economic recession (not sure that contemporary jewelry and the economy are so entangled, but at least it’s paying attention). Somehow this sentiment of frugality also leads into the thought that to own one necklace or ring from the wall was to own part of something larger. No one wearer could solely own the entirety of this work – one has to willingly accept that your piece relates to others, as all the pieces share parts of the larger pattern. At least to my naïve eyes, I think American culture is becoming slightly more okay with a transforming sense of the individual. The new individual understands their uniqueness through a lens of being part of a larger group – which is how the jewelry on this wall related to each other.

The plastic laser cut earrings also on exhibition exist in an interesting place in the context of the high priced world of art jewelry; a work you can take home for around $30 shares a roof with other objects that might be worth more than any of the cars I’ve ever owned. THIS ALWAYS WORKS, and here’s why: a true bred American is only capable of thinking about whether they like something through imagining owning it – and when one can actually own something, it makes the imagination of owning the other, more expensive works, more vivid. Of course in the design world, this is more expected, with Droog offering easily produced objects for 20 bucks alongside their more in depth conceptual work, or Murikami opening a Louis Vuitton store inside LACMA alongside his “artwork.”

I think the component which can make this relationship stronger, is when the two feel like they have a sibling relationship – where one feels related but slightly less developed. And in this case, and even though the ties between ornament and silhouette where there, I wasn’t really able to figure out how the two types of pieces went together. Visually, the plastic earrings (hung on a white wall) presented vivid colors against a blank, while alternatively, the contrast between the visual delicacy of the camouflage work drew the eye in to the other, and what seemed like the less exciting wall overall… I’m still pondering if the two relate in a really logical way or really if they have to.

I will also briefly mention that although the delicate lines were well executed, the modern silhouettes of classical jewelry ain’t the most revolutionary of ideas (see Islay Taylor, Constanze Schreiber, etc).

Perhaps my favorite piece, which I think did exist between the two semi-disparate projects, was a pair of earrings made of dipped clear plastic. These magical earrings reexamined the idea of the historical silhouette and added a dash of industrial design fin model, slightly asymmetrical and drippy. Basically each of these elements are a semi-surefire way to make any object visually appealing; this sounds like knock against the Opulent Project, but really it isn’t; it’s good and simple decision making. All together, the effect adds up to an enticing ice-palace treat; perhaps even a humorous nod to the camouflage wall as well, as a see-through earring might just reflect the color of the wearers ear and become a bit surreal.

If you also look forward to seeing what the Opulent Project will come up with in the future, follow them here: http://theopulentproject.blogspot.com

To view photos from the exhibition opening, please visit Gallery Loupe’s Facebook page —> here

Misha Kahn, RISD BFA Furniture ’11 and Fulbright Fellow, Israel 2011-12, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

To see a previous review written by Misha, please click ——> here

The Birthday Boys – A Review

November 1, 2012

galleries/exhibitions, jewelry (or jewellery), REVIEWS, semantics

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The following is a delightful review of Gallery Loupe’s recent show, The Birthday Boys by ≥’s first guest writer (!), Misha Kahn. Please see the previous post for photos.

Kellie was visiting me in NYC, over at my house trying to convince me to get on approximately 15 trains to go look at tiny things in Montclair, New Jersey. It was one of those Saturday afternoons that puts you into a sleepy daze, the kind that doesn’t make you want to trek out into the boonies for really anything one ain’t able to afford. But after a bit of convincing I came along – I’m not entirely unfamiliar with contemporary jewelry, but my understanding of it is largely through an easy comparison to my own playing field – furniture. It’s a similar set of problems, mostly peoples’ curiously rigid logic that design or craft or art should all get processed in different parts of the brain. Sure, aesthetics can translate but at the end of the day that little pin-back or those four legs force it into some other part of cerebral processing. And, rather hypocritically, I process most of these types of “craft” media in terms of whether or not I want to own it, wear it, or put it in my house. Unlike most people though my fantasy shopping isn’t limited by comfort or practicality or really any pragmatic concerns that the mainstream would use to evaluate “design” objects.

Let me tell you, I wanted everything at this show. Now, let me tell you why:

The Birthday Boys’ work was divided diagonally down the gallery, between a line of optically perplexing mirrored structures with delicate metal feelers on one side and little nuggets of perfection on the other, part memphis part maquette part tiny silly color texture pattern blocked objet d’brooch.

Peter Skubic’s mirrored mini chosms where like tiny little fun houses for your lapel. The way they reflected your face, fragmenting it and introducing your neighbors faces and body parts, re- configuring them felt reminiscent of a Hockney joiner or cubist painting. This way of seeing makes so much sense, because we never really see anything without processing it, introducing our own knowledge and memories of what surrounds us. These brooches function as glasses for seeing how we see – allowing us to see the room unpeiced, before our brain assembles these parts. The delicate feelers reaching out had the effect of an antanea, making sure the wearer didn’t bump into anything too close, but it’s easily altered forms become a memory of the space that the object has encountered, recording each of its run ins with its new, altered shapes. The pieces become a collection of memories, those recorded, and those of the moment, deconstructed and put on view. This to me seemed a more than valid justification for making a slew of objects that for all intensive purposes where quite similar. Because they were about this alteration of space, and this shattered view they worked more strongly in this extensive line up.

Although within contemporary jewelry there is no surprise when an object falls outside the mainstream convention of sparkly/shiny/precious, and since the other Birthday Boy was working with such high, reflective sheen, Thomas Gentilles felt extra fresh. Because of this, his work seemed even more reminiscent of the Memphis response to the largely chromed, sleek furniture of the early 80’s. His use of color, mixing pattern and play between angular construction and more imaginative shape and proportion added to this connection. However, on this scale the play between shape and pattern became far more engaging. As much as I hate to ever call things architectural, being as unimaginative as saying “it’s nice”- these brooches had some qualities of miniatures that forced this connection. Trying to imagine them blown up I was displeased, but at their current size, with the detailed prints of shattered eggshell they felt like pocket size maps to imaginary worlds. It was as though he discovered some secret area where a miniature only works at that size – a rarity in the object world where scale is frequently arbitrary or as large as the market will allow. In this brooches he created the effect of a window – functioning in such an abstract way – that one might be looking at Gentille’s world from a 10,000 foot altitude or standing so close its about to go out of focus.

Gentille’s play of scale and distance in conjunction with Skubics alteration of vision and memory made a show that left you in a blissful imaginative daze. Wandering back into the streets of suburban New Jersey feeling adjacent to standard space and time — all conjured by something to wear that on a Lapel – that is really something.