If You Have Any Questions Please Ask Us by Karl Fritsch and Lisa Walker

Artist list

Karl Fritsch, Lisa Walker

The first time Ra Gallery presented jewellery by Karl Fritsch, at the KunstRai 1995, people pricked their ears. Were the artist and Ra taking the public for a ride with these odd makings, assembled from bits of old jewellery and wax-cast shapeless shapes? Karl Fritsch has a personal take on jewellery. The communicative properties of his jewellery are recognised both by regular jewellery-connaisseurs and relative outsiders. His work is unorthodox, original and has a playful sense of humour. In no time, it was received with enthusiasm and appreciation. Karl’s following exhibitions in Ra, in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2015, were titled Refreshing Jewellery, Pleasantly Suspect, Long Live the Ring and No Research.

By now Karl Fritsch had gained worldwide recognition as a talented jewellery maker. He made some spectacular books on his work, and lives in New Zealand with Lisa Walker and their children. The basis for his newest work is the New Zealand tradition of carving and sculpting stone. In his own words: Shaping rock is pretty primal and it is very exciting to be able to shape them. It adds a powerful chapter to an already impressive oeuvre.

Lisa Walker’s first exhibition in Ra Gallery took place in 2002. It was titled Haberdashery. Coming from New Zealand, she used local haberdashery shops as inspiration for her huge graduation collection of jewellery pieces at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunsten in Munich. She usually works with cheap, kitschy materials. In doing so she hardly uses traditional goldsmith’s techniques, but often (visibly) glues her jewellery pieces together.

Her presentation at Ra in the KunstRai 2005 was aptly titled: Glued, Bashed, Sewed, Squashed, Chucked, Painted, Licked. At the KunstRai 2016 one could even hear Ra’s gallery owner say about her work: – and it’s not very beautifully made. This didn’t stop people from buying. In recent years she has been using found and pre-used materials with a (personal) history, like leftover stuff from Karl’s studio or toys from the children. One step beyond, and more controversial, Lisa is now taking pictures of existing artworks from the internet to turn them, almost literally, into jewellery pieces, like she did in the Fischli and Weiss Bracelet, Shoes. She is playing with the concepts of influencing and copying and doesn’t shun the ensuing debate. In her own words: I learned a long time ago that you don’t have to find the answers, it’s enough for the works to keep asking the questions. Lisa Walker’s newest work is about the unrelenting abundance of the modern lifestyle.