Articles

AJF takes its responsibilities as a forum for contemporary art jewelry seriously. We commission various kinds of critically engaged writing about the field, including thematic articles on topics that unlock the history, present and future of contemporary art jewelry. In this section of our website, you’ll find a variety of voices who, whether they agree or disagree with each other and the reader, are united by their conviction that contemporary art jewelry is a practice worth arguing about.

12 May 2013

IN SIGHT SERIES / SCHMUCK 13 IN PERSPECTIVE

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. more...
09 May 2013

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. They own the work and can take it to another venue regardless of how or where the gallery has been promoting it. 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. more...
07 May 2013

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? Isn’t it about time we articulate this clearly instead of shying away from proving this to be true? more...
26 December 2012

Galerie Louise Smit: 1986-2012

Liesbeth den Besten

Obviously, there is no educational track to become a gallery director, and there are hardly any standards. Anyone can open a space, but to become a successful gallery director you need to have the kind of special skills identified by Don Thompson in The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art (2008)—a good eye, good contacts, being proactive, marketing skills, financial resources, and charm. This list can be extended to include unlimited dedication and drive, vision, sensitivity, and ambition. In this small niche of contemporary jewelry where everyone knows each other, everyone observes each other, and everyone is friend or foe, a gallery director should be a jack-of-all-trades. more...
16 July 2012

The Transcendent Jewelry of Margaret De Patta: Vision in Motion

Ursula Ilse-Neuman

De Patta’s life took a dramatic turn and her jewelry career was born in 1929 when she was shopping for her wedding ring. When she could not find one with a modernist design, she decided to make her own. This is such a good story – if it were not true, you would have to make it up. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the ring are unknown. She saw that no one was making jewelry inspired along the lines of modern art. With no formal training programs available, she was primarily self-taught. She turned to books on jewelry making and studied ethnic jewelry in museums. Her very early jewelry experiments demonstrate how she used ethnic museum pieces as models to explore how jewelry was fabricated. more...
15 June 2012

All The World Over: The global ambitions of contemporary jewelry

Damian Skinner

In many historical accounts America fits awkwardly into the standard story of contemporary jewelry. It is notable, for example, that Fritz Falk and Cornelie Holzach can tell the story of contemporary jewelry in their book of the Schmuckmuseum’s collection and never really mention American jewelry. According to this view, nothing critical to the development of contemporary jewelry happened in the United States. Imagine reversing the situation. Could a plausible narrative of contemporary jewelry be written in which Europe was similarly overlooked? more...
25 March 2012

Metal Zero

Gabriel Craig

The ability of a material to embody and convey meaning is central to our understanding of culture and of the objects with which we surround ourselves. Metal is a natural and effortless container for meaning, more so than almost any other material. In Western culture, metal is the material receptacle for most highly charged emotions. It is so often that we commemorate through the use of metal that we are desensitized to its ability to actively convey meaning. more...
17 March 2012

Encounters With Authentic Personal Fantasies

Gabriel Craig

In distinctly different ways then, these artists give form to their fantasies. What is curious is that each artist has executed his or her work on a scale that subjugates the body, rendering it merely the site of the accessory. The scale of these works also allows the artists to sublimate the function of the wearable objects in favor of their imaginative and authentic declaration. The predominance of a fantastical form language – that circumvents cultural convention – allows the sexual allusions of this work to be made more palatable, as if by making them imaginary propositions they are detached from reality. more...