Gabi Dziuba & Friends

With her laid-back, at times austere, minimalistic and often glamorously scintillating experiments in form and material as well as her predilection for collaborative ways of working, the jewellery artist Gabi Dziuba is a pioneer of the 1980s. This monograph is the first to take a look at the entire breadth of her artistic production, which spans some forty years, and her diverse working partnerships with renowned fine artists.

Matches, blister packs, coins, beans or letters of the alphabet, cast in silver or gold and modified through minimal manipulation, can all become jewellery in the hands of Gabi Dziuba. Her works are the very manifestation of the colourful stylistic pluralism prevalent in the eighties.

During that time, the art scenes in the big cities were evolving in a dynamic way. There were joint exhibitions, music was being made, and trendy clubs were becoming established. Political, leftist discourse and ‘reckless’ hedonism went hand in hand, while postulates of style and the idea of fixed identities were left by the wayside. Punk had made its breakthrough, and ‘Bad Painting’ set the tone.

It was against this background, in 1983, that Gabi Dziuba completed her studies in the goldsmithing class of Hermann Jünger at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Previously, as of 1972, she had been a student at the University of Applied Sciences for Design in Pforzheim under Reinhold Reiling, the forerunner of a new jewellery concept.

In Munich Gabi Dziuba met the acquaintance of artists Günther Förg and Hans-Jörg Mayer, among others. These and other friendships had a fundamental impact on her artistic work and led to numerous collaborations, with Pop, Punk and fashion too influencing her unmistakeable creations.

In 2011 Gabi Dziuba opened Dziuba Jewels, a studio and showroom, designed by Heimo Zobernig, on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin, where she also presents her jewellery in alternating exhibitions, on occasion too in dialogue with works by her friends.

The publication, launched to mark the exhibition at the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum, focuses on Gabi Dziuba’s collaborations alongside a representative selection of jewellery from all of her creative phases. By juxtaposing paintings, sculptures, installations, photographic works and jewellery on an equal footing, much the same way as her projects with her artist friends, it becomes clear how personal and artistic appreciation can be interlinked. Illustrations as well as essays, an interview with the artist, and texts by fellow artists provide fascinating insights into the creation of her works, cultural backdrop, and personal relationships.