Adorning, limited edition jewellery

Artist list

Eina Ahluwalia, Frédérique Charbonneau Andrieu, Laurent Chauvat, Alex Davis, Diane De Valou, Smriti Dixit, Pallavi Gandhi, Statish and Alpana Gujral, Anvita Jain, Sham Patwardhan-Joshi, Bharathi Raviprakash, Purvi Sanghvi, Niels Schoenfelder, Masooma Syed, Adam Yagdis

Like any contemporary artists work, these creators have worked with a concept and idea. There is a narrative in these works. Some works carry a message, while others voice preoccupations and yet others translate concerns. Each artists identity is unique and is reflected in their work. All artist have consciously translated their artworks to align themselves to be seen in relation to the body. As a curator, I would like to move the focus to the artwork and the idea of the small format rather than its wearability. The wearability is incidental and related to the need for visibility and sharing of the artwork and hence my suggestion of not labelling it as jewellery.
Just as an artist wants to share a large painting or sculpture on a wall or floor, these small format artworks share their visibility with the body.
Using the idea of floor plans, architect Niels Schoenfelder worked with the atelier of Vastrakala, who fashions footwear for Louboutin and garments for Chanel and Curtains for the Rashtrapathy Bhawan amongst many other things, to create flat embroidered drawings that can be displayed on the arms and wrists like bracelets and ear ornaments.
Diane De Valou has used nature to create silver look alikes in her love for the environment and her plea of conservation.
Smriti Dixit works with thread and fibre in her site specific works and wall pieces where she uses humble materials creating artworks of great drama in her translation of object to icon. Using the same materials, she has created floral wreaths that could adorn a neck.
The Satish Gujral – Alpana Gujral duo have used small sculptures of the grand doyen combining them with semiprecious and precious material to create lyrical stands that rest on the body in the form of a neck piece.
Bharathi Raviprakash works with Shivite and Vaishnavite symbols combining them together to create a virtual temple in the form of a ring.
Sham Patwardhan works with nature creating small objects reminiscent of a spring time floral offering.
Purvi Sanghvi uses the idea of writing with objects drawn from the world of writing objects. She strings together numerous nibs in a rhythmic pattern that reminds one of a page of beautiful handwriting.
Eina Ahluwalia, uses her art as an activist with a slant towards feminism. The message in these small very striking works is a cry for attention towards causes dear to her. Needless to say, they are like a badge proclaiming the wearer’s ideology.
Anvita Jain works with found objects and popular culture. Quirky and startling combinations are meant to drive home a point and take adornment only as an idea without the literal act of adorning.
Pallavi Gandhi on the other hand picks a narrative technique using ideas that are combined together telling a story in each piece using many techniques at the same time.
Masooma Syed, a sculptor and painter works with the idea of identity and the self, from her choice of materials to ideas and the way she combines them all. Her works speak of a mindspace of a true artist.
Alex Davis’ lazy garden from his Hyper Bloom series of dramatic large stainless steel sculptures see a miniaturization in precious metals.

Sharan Apparao, curator