How Long is Now by Jantje Fleischhut

Artist list

Jantje Fleischhut

Ever since time began, man looked at the firmament in bewilderment. It was the genesis of religions, mythology, literature and many works of art. No matter how many mysteries science unraveled during the past century, the amazement only increased. Some celestial bodies were only clouds of debris, while others are extremely volcanic and look different each year; one of Neptune's moons has gales blowing at nearly the speed of sound, and on neutron-stars one millimetre of matter might weigh 500 billion kilo's. Can anything be more inspirational?

In the past the heavens often provided Jantje Fleischhut with a creative incentive. Now her point of departure were the innumerable lumps of stone and clouds of rubble that silently speed through the infinite universe. She began to make a kind of asteroids from the most unlikely materials. Shapes emerged of which the weight, structure, colour and surface are as surprising and associative as the cosmic rocks they refer to. Fleischhut combined these elements into small compositions. They are not meant to suggest an explosive collision, but rather to call forth the overwhelming dynamics of the universe. Sometimes she added abstract shapes to suggest celestial orbits. Her refined sensitivity for colours, both with the individual parts as in their combinations, gave each piece of jewellery its distinct expressiveness.

The new work fits naturally in the the oeuvre of the artist, but it is also an interesting new development. As we have little to tell about the sign of the Zodiac under which we are born, it is wonderful that Jantje Fleischhut provides us with the option to make our own choice.

Ward Schrijver
(© Galerie Rob Koudijs)