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Objects of Vertu

Exhibition  /  05 Mar 2016  -  12 Jun 2016
Published: 16.03.2016
Phoebus Rotterdam
Curator:
Liesbeth den Besten
Management:
Mirjam de Winter
Necklace: Pearl Grey Revisited by Manon van Kouswijk.Glass elements (saucer, hand formed cup handle with attached glass beads), diverse glass and plastic beads, polyester thread, glue.. 2015Work designed for Klimt02 Gallery in occasion of the exhibition To Recover, Barcelona, October 2015.
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. The original "Pearl Grey" of 2009 was an assemblage work consisting of found and made elements of porcelain, glass, wood, plastic and pearl. It referenced a traditional cup and saucer of which the cup had been magically replaced by a bead necklace. For this new work I have translated that idea to the typology of a glass 'saucer and cup’. It is again a combination of found and made elements but this time the work is completely transparent; almost like an x-ray of it’s predecessor.. Manon van Kouswijk
Necklace: Pearl Grey Revisited, 2015
Glass elements (saucer, hand formed cup handle with attached glass beads), diverse glass and plastic beads, polyester thread, glue.
Work designed for Klimt02 Gallery in occasion of the exhibition To Recover, Barcelona, October 2015.

The original "Pearl Grey" of 2009 was an assemblage work consisting of found and made elements of porcelain, glass, wood, plastic and pearl. It referenced a traditional cup and saucer of which the cup had been magically replaced by a bead necklace. For this new work I have translated that idea to the typology of a glass 'saucer and cup’. It is again a combination of found and made elements but this time the work is completely transparent; almost like an x-ray of it’s predecessor.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

Intro
From way back gold and silversmiths worked in precious metals, creating jewellery and small, or impressive, objects, tableware and cutlery. Elaborately executed table ornaments are often called conversation pieces. Eye-catcher, a word that is used less, is useful equivalent.
 

Artist list

Dinie Besems, Beatrice Brovia, Liesbet Bussche, Nicolas Cheng, Lin Cheung, Benjamin Lignel, Suska Mackert, Ruudt Peters, Robert Smit, Alejandra Solar, Manon van Kouswijk
Objects of vertu, small objects, mostly made from costly materials are also eye-catchers. They are meant to attract, to catch the gaze and to hold attention. The beautiful objects that are brought together in the chest of drawers can be observed as contemporary objects of vertu. Most of these objects are not made from precious materials but synthetic material, tin, beads or mineral gains preciousness through the delicate treatment of the artist who created the piece. The Archive of Objects of Vertu shows how the gold and silversmith evolved from a craftsman into a jewellery artist or designer. Precious metals are only used sporadically, sometimes to hold our attention, sometimes to create a construction.
The 11 participating artists put two and three-dimensional objects in their drawer(s). The prints, sketches, and posters have various functions: it can be an illustration, or an artwork in its own right, and sometimes it is a sketch that served as a source of inspiration.
The themes dealt with by the artists show a deep consciousness about jewellery and its connotations: etiquette (Bussche), the chain (Kouswijk), power (Lignel), the pin (Cheung), remembrance (Bussche), the pattern (Solar), conversation pieces (Cheng/Brovia), and faith (Mackert). Besides this also muse (Smit), poetry (Besems) and alchemy (Peters) are inspirational
. / Liesbeth den Besten