June 30, 2005
snazzy design
Is the goal of jewellery as a contemporary art/craft practice the creation of beauty?
I guess the object below is an example of what many people in Australia mean by contemporary jewellery that has broken away from the old folksy arts and crafts:
Mari Funaki, Ring for one and two fingers.
Funaki is held to be an example of contemporary design where the concept is as important as the craft. The craft here refers to both technique, to a non-industrial, non-capitalist mode of production. Well crafted means good technique and able to withstand decay (solid craftmanship).
Mari Funaki, Bracelet, 2005
This kind of jewellery is the art of making beautiful things. That's beauty as form, as opposed to beauty as sensation (ie., the empiricists idea of of the object evoking clusters of stimulii in the subject). Instead of a piece of jewellery it could be a well designed chair.
So where's the concept in relation to this wearable ornament? How does that conceptual bit fit into jewellery as the creation of beautiful form? Is it the conceptual bit that highlights the step from craft to art?
There is many an artist who clings to their image as craftspeople because they eschew theory and aesthetic self-interpretation and talk about their craft knowledge and skill of how to best construct an object, such as a chair or ring.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at June 30, 2005 10:48 PM | TrackBack