Placement, a collaboration between Art Jewelers & Street Artist

Artist list

ASVP, Lynn Batchelder, Jon Burgerman, CYRCLE, Jessica Calderwood, Steven Gordon Holman, Arthur Hash, Logan Hicks, Tara Locklear, Amanda Marie, Sharon Massey, Skullphone, Vexta, Mallory Weston

Six Street Artists were paired with six Jewelry Artists to collaborate and explore their artforms, media and messages. The selection of the artists to participate in  this inaugural collaboration was highly curated, as both Art Jewelry and Street Art include a vast number of highly differentiated skillsets. These artists represent the best of each area  of expression.

Street Art and Art Jewelry are both tightly connected to public display. While both highlight  the intention of the artist, as most art forms do, it is the “placement” of each genre’s work  that can determine its success or failure, influence interpretation, and in most cases ultimately define the work.

Street Art is an experiential art form, often unsanctioned and usually executed outside of the context of traditional art venues, on the street and in public view. The term “placement” within the Street Art vernacular refers to the decided location of installation, whether highly visible or purposefully meant to be elusive and discovered. The genre is not simply defined by it’s level  of visibility, rather it relies upon it.  “Placement” is usually carefully pre-determined by the artist, in a way very much akin to jewelry; a location’s consideration becomes part of the narrative  for the piece.

Traditional jewelry depends almost entirely on “placement” for its definition; an earring is worn on the ear, a bracelet on the wrist. The location of the piece defines it. It is its vitality. Art Jewelry, on the other hand, is often a highly conceptual, material driven art form that can suspend these preconceptions. Not only the ideas of “placement” can be challenged, but the basic definition of what jewelry is, and what it can be, is often questioned.

Bella Neyman, director at R|R Gallery and co-curator, comments, “Art Jewelry is out there for the world to see soon after it is created. The minute someone puts the piece on their body and goes outside, they are inviting the world in. The same is true of Street Art. It is traditionally created out in public, and is immediately presented for public consumption. These two art forms have the immediate power to seduce and inspire.”

The exhibition PLACEMENT seeks to explore the concept that “placement” can be as important to a work of art as form, function, or material. The uniqueness of this free-form collaboration concept challenges the paired artists to explore each other’s skill set, creativity and common practice in an effort to create not only new work in new mediums and genres, but also a new experience for the audience. These art forms are made to have public interaction. “Placement”, as a component of the piece itself, whether adorning the body or on the street is critical. Street Art and Art Jewelry are rapidly evolving art forms that encompass a vast array of techniques and materials that position them at the forefront of experimentation within an exhibition context. The end result of PLACEMENT seeks not only to the explore the importance of “placement” within these art forms, but also the genres’ “placement” in the minds of it’s audience and it’s evolving “placement” in the art world as a whole.