EXPO ‘Jewelry: The Genetics of the Ancient’ – Palazzo Cenci, Roma (IT) – 18-23 Juin 2013

Jewelry: The Genetics of the Ancient / Gioielli: La Genetica Dell’antico   

Artists: Kellie Riggs, Ulderico Giuseppe Pettorossi

« I consider jewelry to be archaeological » -says Pettorossi- « a crucial bridge between what we once were and what we will eventually be« .
Riggs’ approach mutually respects historical artistic precedents but a bit more theoretically. On the surface her work is fragmented pieces of a visual vocabulary taken from classic architectural fundamentals of adornment. The majority of her neckpieces in this exhibition are from the series ARCHITETTONICO and translate the decorative and at times structural articulation of interior architectural spaces to the scale of the body; time has honored the idea that the human body deserves parallel exaltation. The wall-sized projections of her pieces on the body help rationalize their existence. Detailed shots seen large and up-close synthesize the site and surface (body as architecture) with object and form, articulating the very areas each piece adorns, as would architectural adornment from interior spaces of Italian churches or palazzi from the Quattrocento

Together, the works presented by both Pettorossi and Riggs question what it means to contemporize our own visual history by asking how the past has the potential to also be the present.

Kellie Riggs  Necklace: Concave/Convex  Porcelain, handmade rope

« My work is informed by the past, fueled by an interest in contemporizing our visual history. My curiosity in what came before me closely relates to the inherent fundamentals of adornment as a concept; I explore the human body’s direct relationship to architecture, as time has honored the idea that the human body deserves parallel exaltation. Using the decorative and structural articulation of environments like Italian churches, I aim to exploit the body as a site and surface able to be similarly defined.
Adapted fundaments of Renaissance and Baroque architecture encompass my work using identifiable derivations of visual vocabularies, principles, and dynamic functions. Using proportion and balance, contraction and release, my work explores ambiguity of scale. The physicality of each piece is also essential to the visual presence when seen on the body, and the structural presence when felt worn.
This series intends to reframe how the body is perceived by unifying object and body as one. This goal of unification is met with limitations of perception- how does one communicate a theoretical environment where piece meets the intended site, if one does not get to handle the piece personally? The tangible object alone is not the complete work; without the body, only fallen fragments would be found. How are they to be put back?
  (I consider each work in this series to be object(s) on a body in unprinted photographs. If given the opportunity, these works would ideally be projected quite large.) » Kellie Riggs

ARCHITETTONICO by Kellie Riggs

Kellie Riggs - Architettonico 2011 – RECONSTRUCTED FRAGMENTS  gold-plated and patinated copper

Kellie Riggs   Objects: Recovered Fragments 2010  Gold plated copper

ARCHITETTONICO by Kellie Riggs -  – CONCAVE/CONVEX  porcelain, handmade rope, silver