Cash by Karen Pontoppidan

Artist list

Karen Pontoppidan

The Netherlands have a long tradition in 'coin jewellery'. It is an interesting phenomenon: it was meant to be worn and seen, was made from precious metal - usually silver - and became popular throughout society. Though clearly a sign of prosperity, they were mostly made from humble silver dimes (in Dutch: dubbeltjes). Our country developed out of Europe’s first republic, where commercial success and wealth were the prime conditions for social status, but these pieces of jewellery became a popular sign of royal allegiance - certainly since king William III died in 1890 and the country was governed by queens for over a century. During the second world war, wearing them was an intentional act of resistance. Karen Pontoppidan has now made coin jewellery as well, just as ambivalent as their Dutch predecessor.

With Pontoppidan no statements about monarchy or public stature, her stance concerns the art world, how money controls creativity. She dealt with the subject before in her Canvas series - whether jewellery made from painted canvas automatically distinguishes it as art - and Context, that investigated the importance of an artists personal participation. This time Pontoppidan made Cash: pendants composed of collectors coins, made of fine-silver. She rolled them down to affect the shape and political value and covered them in a thick layer of paint. The material is characteristic for jewellery, the finish the universal code for art. The nice thing about them is that, in contrast to a painting hanging on the wall, they can be worn and in due course the paint will gradually wear of revealing the double meaning of the work.

Despite Pontoppidan's busy life – for many years she was professor in Stockholm and as of now the successor of Otto Künzli at the Akademie der Bildende Künste in Munich – she continues to produce intriguing work. She made 11 new necklaces - sculptural shapes with seductive colours and a rebellious message – a fine extension of a rich Dutch tradition.

Ward Schrijver 
(© Galerie Rob Koudijs)


Opening: Saturday 12 September from 17 to 19 h.