Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger

This publication places Schobinger’s work in critical dialogue with the vast political and cultural forces that have informed it, from the long shadow of World War II to the anarchy of the punk underground and beyond.

Bernhard Schobinger (*1946) uses scavenged and alternative materials to reimagine jewelry as a subversive medium, harnessing its potential to reveal hidden layers of history. After graduating from his goldsmithing studies in Zurich,
Bernhard Schobinger founded his own studio and a gallery for contemporary art in 1968 in Richterswil on Lake Zurich. Inspired by proponents of Concrete Art such as Max Bill and Richard Paul Lohse, but also by Dadaism and Arte Povera, he has developed an artistic approach which he uses to fundamentally question traditional notions of jewelry.

At the heart of his work is the exploration of materials. Whereas noble metals and precious stones traditionally stand for value, status, and perfection, Schobinger combines them consciously—at times subversively—with found objects, everyday items, and fragments from nature. Within his “democracy of materials,” the hierarchies between valuable and worthless subject matter are abolished.

For Schobinger, the cultural upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s and the rebellious energy of punk were particularly formative. His works therefore mirror social tensions, ecological issues, and not least the consequences of a consumer-oriented lifestyle. At the same time, they reflect personal memories and the artist’s in-depth occupation with Japanese culture. Meteorites, rough stones, and ancient rock formations thus become conveyors of a multilayered narrative of origin, change, and transience.