Relocated Gifts by Esther Suárez

Artist list

Esther Suárez

Techniques like weaving or knitting are likely to spring to mind, but there are other, very expressive ways to accomplish that aim. Think for instance of yarn on a coil, strands of embroidery thread, or a ball of wool or rope. Esther Suárez Ruiz skillfully combined the intriguing patterns that you can produce in such ways with colour contrasts. She secured the fascinating results by emerging them in resin, which gave her the possibility to make bead-like shapes, these subsequently lead us to a completely different level in her work.

Jewellery seems to be inextricably linked to wealth, and since antiquity beads played an important role in this. Everybody knows the elaborate necklaces of the Egyptian pharaohs, or the use of precious, handcrafted mille-fiori glass beads from Venice. During the explorations of the world during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries huge pieces of land would be bought with 'beads and mirrors' (like South-Africa by the Dutch). Scarcity fans desire, which results in economic value... In short, beads aren't just a lighthearted medium, and Suárez deliberately searched for new shapes and possibilities. Her, sometimes monumental, beads possess many references to the past, but before anything else they tempt you to touch, examine, and wear them. The mysteries of their apparently logic, colourful inner world are hard to resist.

Ward Schrijver 
(© Galerie Rob Koudijs)