Returning to the Jewel is a Return from Exile. Schmuck in der Residenz Nr. 8

Artist list

Robert Baines, Karl Fritsch, Gerd Rothmann

Exile was an empty jewellery space, Exile was a jewellery absence, Exile was a jewellery void,
Exile was a jewellery chasm, Exile was a jewellery abyss.
Exile had no jewellery thinking, Exile had no jewellery discussion, Exile had no jewellery conversation, Exile had no jewellery exchange.

Exile is the absence of beauty, Exile is not wearing jewellery.

Jewellery Amigos Gerd Rothmann, Karl Fritsch and Robert Baines have a manifesto that Jewelleryis fresh air, Jewellery is food, Jewellery is celebration, Jewellery is fun, Jewellery is flattering, Jewelleryis to enjoy, Jewellery has vigour, Jewellery has to have oomph, Jewellery is to excite,Jewellery is pleasurable.

The Jewellery Amigos bring a cautionary tale that the lacking of jewellery is poverty and the absence of jewellery is nakedness. Gerd Rothmann advises, “The sun on my gold will blind you.”
Karl Fritsch warns “Removing the jewellery will uncover you.”
Robert Baines warns “Don’t chuckle at my jewels – It’s serious”.

Is the Einsӓulensaal der Residenz a circus?
Ring master Karl Fritsch is a ring maker and the circus ring is a ring of stacked gems. Fritsch the ring master directs old jewellery to become new again. What was once discarded has been retrieved.
Karl Fritsch is a ring stretcher. Not stretching rings for fatter fingers but stretching the notion of what a ring might be and can be. “Sometimes a ring plays a joke on me, or it sits at the table like a good child, doing nothing. Then it’s about quickly soldering, casting, filing, setting stones.
The ring can’t wait: it is impatient and wants to hurry.
Karl Fritsch is a footballer not stopping for injuries.
He is a kicker who shoots and misses but always goals.
Karl Fritsch digs channels in old ground.
It’s a dry old land, an exhausted jewellery wasteland, but Fritsch finds a fruitful harvest.
He picks fruit from a dead orchard.

Is the Einsӓulensaal der Residenz a theatre for surgery?
Goldsmith Gerd Rothmann transfers human skin into gold and silver. He reassigns clients’ bodies and the bodies of their loved ones to create imprints in permanent precious metals.
He transmutes finger-prints and body-casts to achieve tactile, experiential jewellery. Body, body parts and imprints are his bodycast subjects. His transmuting jewellery continues to carry stories both physically and literally and as the Egyptians believed gold was the flesh of the Gods,
is Gerd Rothmann deifying the wearers of his jewellery?
“I am said to have developed a unique style. That’s all well and good – but behind it is a constant,
fascinated interest in jewellery as a human medium.”

Is the Einsӓulensaal der Residenz a podium to show artificer’s tricks for Robert Baines?
He draws lines and networks to capture space and commands a facility to visit
historic and cultural locations?
Substance and process have embedded material cultural history.
The goldsmith has an inescapable history but this is not a burden, conundrum or impediment to make an original statement. New contexts can be invented and illustrated with fictitious evidence.
Historic or contemporary viewings of the human drama are available to be subverted using the jewellery artifact to convey contextual meanings. Jewellery is the vehicle.

Gerd Rothmann, Karl Fritsch and Robert Baines say to you jewellery enthusiasts to give them
your minds. Possibly you feel anxious about ‘Returning to the Jewel…..8,
but dismiss this from your beautiful jewellery thinking as this could be the greatest chance to prove your loyalty towards the Jewellery Amigos.