Bernhard Schobinger. Jewels Now!

There is no doubt at all about Bernhard Schobinger being a megastar of the contemporary jewellery scene. Whereas his earlier jewellery reveals the influence of Punk and the radical negation of middle-class values, more recent pieces tend to emanate an aura of mysticism. An example of the mischevious delight in experimenting is the way he links diamonds with objects that may have been retrieved from a rubbish bin, a gesture that brands the glitter of the diamonds as the fallout of the throw-away society. The indissoluble link between Bernhard Shobinger's jewellery and the photographs by Annelies Strba, a leading contemporary photographer and video artist, has been forged by Strba's documentary approach to recording these pieces. In presenting an apposite selection of Strba's photographs of jewellery, this book not only clarifies the features that the two media have in common but also reveals the differences between the two areas of artistic achievement.