Unearthing New European Makers for 2019
July 12 – August 31, 2019
exhibition opening: Friday, July 12, 5-7 pm
Patina Gallery, Santa Fe
This summer, Patina Gallery presents works by more than ten European jewelry artists in a group exhibition opening on July 12, marking their debut in the American Southwest. Below, we highlight three of these artists whose works share modern sensibilities, minimalist shapes, and purity of materials: Valentine Dubois (Switzerland), Batho Gündra (Germany), and Jacqueline Ryan (England/Italy).
Valentine Dubois
Swiss artist Valentine Dubois creates sculptures to be placed where jewelry is normally worn. Beginning from primary shapes such as circles and squares, Dubois manipulates a flat piece of silver into volumetric shapes with precise faceting that serves to capture and reflect light. Dubois also uses thin steel cables, as in the necklace below, that allow her objects to move freely and independently, and maintain their discrete, sculptural qualities while being worn.
Batho Gündra
German artist Batho Gündra creates modern, geometric forms softened by organic finishes. Informed by architecture, especially the Italian modernist architect Carlo Scarpa, who inspires devotion to material truth and awareness of one’s place in time. Gündra often works from sketches and prototypes, taking great care to consider two- and three-dimensional space, proportion, and movement on the body. Through his use of timeless materials, above featuring gold and coral, and perfected functionality, Gündra achieves playful minimalist clarity.
Jacqueline Ryan
Jacqueline Ryan masterfully balances two impulses: to honor and celebrate the beautiful forms and textures she discovers in the natural world, and to adorn the body, harkening back to the rich decorative arts traditions of ancient cultures, especially Egyptian and Etruscan designs. From the artist’s collection of sketches and photographs of organic forms she discovers in gardens, zoos, botanical drawings, and more, she translates these elements into delicate gold, paper-like sculptures. Made up of moveable elements, Ryan’s pieces dance and shimmer once enlivened on the body, much like petals and leaves enlivened by the wind.
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