Hybrids by Katja Prins

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Katja Prins

For centuries artists have tried to define the human form by using circles, squares, planes and lines. Da Vinci's Vetruvius Man or Rietveld's chairs are known the world over. But the body defies such abstractions; it rather should be looked at as an alternating landscape with sloping transitions and undulating contours determined by the muscles. It is only when a designer explicitly intends to follow or support the body that other shapes emerge. Clothes or corsets are clear examples, as are the wooden leg brace and fiberglass armchair shell designed by the Eames. It is at such occasions that Katja Prins starts to pay attention: when objects aren't just beautiful, but also testify to exploration, functionality and adventure.

To prepare for her new collection of jewellery Prins looked for ways to translate visual associations connected with the human body to a smaller size. Using an artificial material produced for medical purposes, she managed to develop three dimensional shapes that are expressive, without becoming too obvious. They were supplemented with abstract elements, hammered from brass and subsequently polished and chromium-plated.

Prins isn't only fascinated by shapes related to the human frame, but also by the fact that nowadays man can actually intervene in the body. And so she incorporated fragments of medical instruments into her new work. In this way she made jewellery pieces that celebrate an often neglected beauty of the body, in relation with the efforts people make for its perpetuation.

Does Prins jewellery result in merely sweeter temptations? Confronted with the work, most people initially are reserved: the cool, shiny chromium and a reminder of doctor’s implements create a distance. Yet, instead of suspicion, a different reaction would be more appropriate: astonishment about ourselves and our many, sometimes puzzling accomplishments.

Ward Schrijver
(© Galerie Rob Koudijs)