IN SIGHT SERIES / SCHMUCK 13 IN PERSPECTIVE Part 1/6: ON DISPLAY

Aaron Patrick Decker, Susan Cummins, Marthe Le Van, Benjamin Lignel

Schmuck has become a testing ground for new exhibition strategies. The AJF team decided to focus its attention on the way the field interfaces with its public (incestuous as it may be). The range of exhibition setups reflects the field’s ongoing negotiation with both its heritage and its other expectations. The following case studies, we felt, stake a clear position regarding exhibition setup.

In Sight Series / High expectations: artists, galleries and their relationship(s) Part 1/3

Stefan Friedemann

I would argue that, in our field, much power lies with the artists, and that they very seldom hand those powers over to the gallery. In actuality, it is only when a (good) artist begins to relinquish some of these powers—giving exclusivity to a body of work, for example—that the gallery can envision the possibility of earning more from the artist’s work, afford to take further risks, investigate new avenues of promotion, and promise more effort on behalf of the artist.

What is it that you do exactly?

Kellie Riggs

Other than the use of the “J” word, what do Ela Bauer’s polyurethane aprons have in common with Stefano Marchetti’s structural gold brooches, or how about the oversized porcelain neckpieces of Nina Sajet compared to Yoshie Edna’s inflated body pieces? Quite a lot, actually, but I would like to use the question as a proposal for new categories—categories that more appropriately group makers based on individual approaches to jewelry as a medium and art practice, meanwhile hinting at their investigatory preferences. After all, we are constantly using the word “art” as a preface to the word “jewelry,” aren’t we?

Beginning Middle Endless

Céline Browning

Heather White is quite adamant that her choice to include collaborative pairs made up of one American and one European was not calculated to comment on the relationship between American and European jewelry, but it is an unavoidable consequence of the format of the show. While walking around the room, I found myself trying to parse out the American work from the European work. It was delightful how often I was wrong. Content or material choices varied considerably within each group of students, foiling my expectations.

The State of Things

Bella Neyman

It is not the goal of Konstfack to promote jewelry that is pretty or commercial. Pontoppidan encourages the students to use jewelry as an expression of feeling and ideas, and they have successfully done that. Most importantly, they have experimented with materials. Judging by the variety of materials on view—horsehair, needles, iron, sweet potato, sea sponge, and crude oil—they have certainly taken that brief to heart. I am also happy to say that the student work is very different from their professors. Frequently, when a professor has a strong voice, as Pontoppidan does, the voice of the students gets lost. However, this is not the case according to the evidence in The State of Things.

Paul Mergen: A Life in Copper

Gabriel Craig

Paul Mergen refers to copper as “the mother metal.” From his early career, he used copper subversively, as a low material, perhaps precluding himself from early recognition. The premier works of Mergen’s early jewelry combined forging, repoussé, and piercing to achieve contrast in form, visual weight, and texture. These are archetypal works for their time, and it is from this origin—at the center of the coalescing American metalsmithing academy—that Mergen departs, moving toward esoteric interests and developing his artistic inquiry.

Transplantation: A Sense of Place and Culture

Zoe Brand

Did this exhibition, via its catalog, live up to my expectations? It is clear that each of these jewelers put a lot of themselves into realizing the work they submitted for this show. Some more than others executed thought provoking work that really addressed Cherry’s transplantation brief. Did it showcase narrative jewelry? It certainly did not satisfy my expectations about narrative jewelry as a genre, but yes it certainly offered jewelry with a narrative.
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From the Forum

Interview

Elisabeth Agro

Susan Cummins
Article

Curatorial Conundrums

Namita Wiggers
Exhibition Review

Hans Stofer

Stephen Knott
Conference Review

New York, New York!

Rachel Carren