"Beyond Bling: The Artist as Jeweler"
Claire Oliver
This event has ended.
For over four millennia, artists have been considered bellwethers, those sought-after trendsetters who play a leading role in style and design innovation. Historically, one can trace prevalent trends in culture as precursors to societal change: artists' involvement in fashion, literature, music, performance, and the visual arts has made significant contributions to the social climate.
The social and intellectual position of the artist changed radically during the 16th Century; the Renaissance brought a heightened interaction between patron and artist. Previously seen as tradesman, occupying a relatively low social position, artists were henceforth considered creators of important work with complex content and cultural message, persons who conversed with philosophers and negotiated with kings and popes. It was during this time that the role of jewelry and what are today considered more traditional media, such as painting and sculpture, bifurcated, the former gradually becoming known as “craft” and the latter deemed “fine art.” This divergence did not dissuade many great painters and sculptors from continuing to create jewelry regardless of its perceived status.
Internationally renowned individuals from virtually every major artistic genre over the past five centuries have created jewelry-based artworks that not only resonate on their own, but also transform their wearers. A few examples of artists whose works have recently been included in major international museum exhibitions of jewelry include: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Alberto Giacometti, Rene Magritte, Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Louise Nevelson, Nam June Paik, Louise Bourgeois, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, Anish Kapoor, and Kiki Smith.
Historically, these innovative fine artists have shattered boundaries between the viewer and the artwork, fashioning a fascinating new creative language. Bridging disparate schools of practice, they reunite the detailed, material focus of “craft” with the conceptual depth and personal connection of “fine art.” The wearer of these works of art extols a calculated message, their body not only a canvas or backdrop but rather an integral part of the composition and its aesthetic appeal.
Recently, the line between craft and fine art has again begun a convergence: artists have embraced the freedom to dance between the two with facility. This reconciliation has been highlighted by several important international art museums, resulting in the display of necklaces, rings, bracelets, and brooches in galleries traditionally dedicated to painting and sculpture. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston recently built a gallery and hired a renowned curator solely dedicated to the research, display, and preservation of the world’s finest examples of works of art in the medium of jewelry. The Beyeler Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum have also recently acquired and exhibited works in this medium. Reaching far beyond diamonds and pearls, forward-thinking museums are celebrating jewelry’s powerful and historical legacy as a tool of helpful insight into the psyche of an artist.
Beyond Bling: The Artist as Jeweler will feature over 30 established and emerging artists with works created specifically for this exhibition. While some will be unique objects, other examples will be produced in limited editions. Working in a wide variety of media, invited artists will utilize disparate materials including mirror, crystal, stained and blown glass, paint, stoneware, rapid prototyping, collage, photography, video, precious and semi-precious metals, to name but a few.
[Image: Beth Lipman "Residue Collar" (2012) Argentinium, glass, glue, 62 x 16 x 8 in.]
Media
Schedule
from November 29, 2012 to January 17, 2013
Opening Reception on 2012-11-29 from 18:00 to 20:00