Artjewellery?
by Isabella van den Bos
In the inbox an invitation from a London gallery featuring an exhibition of jewellery by topdesigner Ron Arad. With this email, the question arises if jewellery by designers and renowned visual artists is considered a distortion of competition or a valuable addition?
What are big names like Ron Arad (Louisa Guinness Gallery) but also Rebecca Horn, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Arman, Jannis Kounelis en Giuseppe Penone (Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery London) doing in jewellery? Cipriani answers this key question on her website saying visual artists do not have any know-how of jewellery and are invited to come up with designs by her. She presents the results at the Basel art fairs. In the economy of the visual-arts jewellery is considered an excellent brand-extension. Maybe our critical note comes from seeing many jewellery designers at art jewellery week Schmuck in Munich, all trying to make a living, all educated at art academy’s professional jewellery departments. Maybe it’s because for 15 years now, we are building SIERAAD jewellery fair into a professional platform for professional jewellery-designers. Without remarking upon the quality of the jewellery of above-mentioned galleries, it is such a shame that people think thís is artjewellery…
Ron Arad.
Jannis Kounelis.
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov.