EXPO ‘UNEXPECTED PLEASURES’ – Design Museum, London (UK) – 5 Dec. 2012–3 Mars 2013

UNEXPECTED PLEASURES

The Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery

A Design Museum, London touring exhibition

Bringing together almost 200 objects from around the world, Unexpected Pleasures celebrates the work of contemporary jewellers who have challenged the conventions of jewellery design.

Curated by jewellery designer and maker Dr. Susan Cohn, the exhibition offers a survey of contemporary jewellery presented through a number of themes: Worn Out – celebrating the experience of wearing jewellery, Linking Links – looking at the ways in which meaning and narratives are expressed in jewellery and A Fine Line – offering insights into the origins of contemporary jewellery today, highlighting key instigators of the contemporary jewellery movement.

The exhibition will feature prominent UK and international jewellers including Wendy Ramshaw, renowned for her complex geometric designs, Hans Stofer’s intricate wire form jewellery, Gijs Bakker’s conceptual adornments and delicate abstract pieces by Dorothea Pruhl.

« UNEXPECTED Pleasures, an exhibition of the world’s ugliest, loveliest, most intriguing contemporary jewellery, opened at the National Gallery of Victoria International yesterday.
 »Everything here is designed to be worn, » said guest curator and jewellery designer Susan Cohn.
Visitors took that as a challenge, moving through 180 dimly lit curiosities by the world’s most radical designers, trying to imagine what it would be like to wear a necklace of glass and ceramic dildos. Or a tubular  »veil » collar like a pearly plastic version of Ned Kelly’s helmet. Or a cluster of rusted bolts and nails on a silver  »Screw Ring ».
»After procreation and survival, our next instinct as humans is adornment, » Cohn said when asked,  »Why? »
 »Adornment is about attracting a mate, which in turn, is about procreation and survival. »
Some humans, however, obviously require more complex, intellectual adornments than others.  »Yes, some wearers will want something that speaks that way for them, » Cohn said. Among the exhibits was a vast choice of such expression, from the minimalist exquisitry of a grey sunray-pleated yoke, to a clump of small pale  »tumours », photographed bursting through a model’s frock. The latter was in a category of radical ideas.
NGV director Gerard Vaughan said the exhibition offered  »a fresh view of the many meanings associated with jewellery ».
The visiting director of London’s Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, said it was the result of a  »long, drawn-out, cerebral process », and that is precisely how it felt.
Unexpected Pleasures: The Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery, is a Design Museum, London, exhibition funded by the Joan and Peter Clemenger Trust.
It is free and runs until August 26, when it will travel to London. (Daily Life.com.au)

 

Camilla Prasch – MEGA 2009 – red dyed snap fasteners, nylon thread, silicone discs – Photo: Dorte Krogh

Lauren Kalman, Hard Wear (Oral Rims), 2006, Electroformed mold with gold plating

Doug Bucci, USA, Trans-Hematopoietic neckpiece (2010).

Susie Ganch, USA, Yellow dust, brooch (2010)

David Bielander, Scampi, armband/bracelet, 2007

Karl Fritsch Screw ring 2010 silver, nails, screws

 

Karl Fritsch, New Zealand, Steinhaufen, ring 2004

Hyewon Kim -  Torn 1 (2011) – resin, twigs Photo: Myoungwook Huh

Tiffany Parbs – Extension (2008) – hand woven hair, digital print – photo Terence Bogue

Caroline Broadhead, England, Veil, necklace (1983).

Susanne Klemm, « Frozen » necklace, plastic

Blanche TILDEN – Speed, neckpiece  2000  borosilicate glass, titanium, anodised aluminium

Paul Derrez  Pleated Collar  1982  Plastic, steel 

Felieke van der Leest – necklace

Gijs Bakker Rose necklace – Colour photograph in laminated plastic (1983) 

Dorothea Prühl Habicht (Hawk), 2006 necklace, elm wood – H 40 cm

Noon Passama, Brooch, 2010

 

First on show at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 20 April – 26 August 2012, this exhibition will also tour to the Design Museum in London, 5 Dec 2012 – 3 Mar 2013. Melbourne based designer and maker Dr. Susan Cohn (interview with The Age) has curated this exhibition for the Design Museum and is also co-author of the substantial catalogue documenting this event as well contributing to the discussion about contemporary design and making.

 

 

VIDEO

 

Design Museum
28 Shad Thames
London SE1 2YD
Programme 020 7940 8790
Office 020 7403 6933
Fax [phone]

OPENING HOURS

Daily 10am – 5.45pm
Last admission 5.15pm

 

BOOK :

exhibition catalog -  Unexpected Pleasures – By Design Museum edited by Susan Cohn, 2012

to SHOP here

EXPO ‘L.A. ART SHOW – Lauren Kalman’ – Los Angeles, USA – 19-23 janv. 2011

Los Angeles ART SHOW presented by The Fine Art Dealers Association
- BOOTH 1231 -
Featuring LAUREN KALMAN

January 19 – 23 LA ART SHOW presented by The Fine Art Dealers Association BOOTH 1231 Featuring LAUREN KALMAN

 

Lauren Kalman was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and completed her MFA in Art, from the Ohio State University and received her BFA, with a focus in metals, from Massachusetts College of Art. Her professional experience includes an apprenticeship at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, and recent residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute , New Mexico and the University fo Stellenbosch, South Africa. She is currently adjunct faculty at Rhode Island School of Design. Her international exhibition includes exhibitions at galleries, museums and nonprofit spaces including the Recoleta Center in Buenos Aries, Argentina and the Kurze Filme in Basel, Switzerland. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, and Massachusetts College of Art, Boston.

By creating objects of adornment that are unconventional in their application to the body she questions traditional values. In making her work she has become more aware of the values she ascribes to her own body and the objects used to adorn it. Through her work, she hopes to communicate alternative thought about material worth, social custom, and the body.

Gold Duct – digital photograph using gold-plated copper

Tongue Gilding – Digital print, laminated on acrylic

The Los Angeles Convention Center is located at 1201 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California – between Pico and Olympic Boulevards
LA Convention Center
1201 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, California 90015 USA
[phone]

 

 

Sienna Gallery
80 Main Street
Lenox, MA 01240
T [413] 637-8386
[e-mail]
www.siennagallery.com