From March 5th until March 31st, 2020
at Art gallery PUTTI

International exhibition of Contemporary and Conceptual Jewellery

JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY. FINALE

 

With the exhibition JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY art gallery PUTTI celebrates its 20 year anniversary and simultaneously FINALE. There have been many contemporary and conceptual jewellery exhibitions during these years. Thus expanding the classical understanding of jewellery and at the same time challenging the boundaries of creativity for jewellery itself, its creators, wearers and also collectors. Aesthetically, intellectually and also physically – demonstrating that the object we call jewellery does not have a perceptual frame. The only thing that can be considered is time.

Every action, person and event has its own time segment. For the gallery, it is 20 years. All this time, the gallery has spoken with the world in the language of jewellery. Jewellery is a language of visual and tactile signs – sometimes even more concise and apt than words. Saturated with a code and symbols of its own time, demanding accordingly a virtuoso partner (wearer) at the same level. It can be said that these years have been a great learning experience for the gallery itself, for the gallery visitors and for the artists as well. Along with the aesthetic, the intellectual bar was equally important already from the very beginning of the gallery.

With the help of exhibitions, the gallery has wanted to create an explosion in people’s thoughts about jewellery, ignite interest in the jewellery world and discover its depths. Perhaps even change the existing frame of thought on JEWELLERY.

Symbolically, the closing exhibition of art gallery PUTTI – JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY simultaneously embodies the essence of the whole gallery. Clearly demonstrating that jewellery is more than a decoration.

Art cannot change the world. But art can change the way we think about it. And jewellery is, in a sense, a stimulus to this thinking process – it builds real relationships and calls for equally intense participation.
There are 16 artists participating in the exhibition JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY – contemporary jewellery thinkers and creators from different parts of the world, who to a large extent form the notion of contemporary jewellery as a medium and message:

Ana Cardim (Portugal), Annamaria Zanella (Italy), Barbara Uderzo (Italy), Clara Niubò (Spain), Corrado De Meo (Italy), Emmanuel Lacoste (France), Felieke van der Leest (Norway), Gigi Mariani (Italy), Maija Vītola (Latvia), Maria Rosa Franzin (Italy), Nicolas Estrada (Spain), Reka Lorincz (Hungary), Renzo Pasquale (Italy), Sara Barbanti (Italy), Tanel Veenre (Estonia), Valdis Brože (Latvia).

Exhibition scenography, idea, concept: fashion design duo “MAREUNROL’S” (Mārīte Mastiņa-Pēterkopa and Rolands Pēterkops). MAREUNROL’S works in various fields of art – creating fashion collections, participating in men’s fashion weeks in Paris, creating stage sets, fashion installations and fashion shorts, as well as stage costumes for opera and ballet theatre. Read more…

 

 

ANA CARDIM, Portugal

Jewellery serves as a mirror for our social interaction. Wearing jewellery is associated with the conscious thought of the wearer. The fact that a piece of jewellery is a work of art worn on the body allows the message to be mobile and readable anywhere, anytime and in a social context. It serves as a transport from the private space to the public, fulfilling its role as a communicator. Read more…

 

ANNAMARIA ZANELLA, Italy

“It’s hard to explain how my jewellery is created, but certainly in sublimation to the environment – sometimes… in absolute emptiness, sometimes on my way home from the countryside, I suddenly notice an Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) villa, an old wooden door outside, washed and wind-blown advertising posters, or colorful fruit baskets in the Padua market, movies, books. But every start is always about drawing, sketching or a sentence on a white piece of paper. ” Read more…

 

BARBARA UDERZO, Italy

Italian jewellery designer Barbara Uderzo defines her work in the balance between art and design.
“My work aims to create objects to wear. They are mainly the result of intuitions and ideas that I realize with specific skills acquired over years of experience in the jewellery industry.” Read more…

 

CLARA NIUBÒ, Spain

“It’s a real challenge to have to describe yourself; it’s like starting a new project, a blank page before you to start painting, to take that first step, to let yourself go and bring out the best in yourself, not stopping until you reach a conclusion, starting over if need be, being bold, adding colour, getting dirty without caring. Getting your hands involved with paper, wood or metal… a feeling, an emotion, having fun. That’s how I like to work, and I take on everyday tasks as a challenge.” Read more…

 

CORRADO DE MEO, Italy

“In my jewellery, I want to project my awareness of process of execution, crystallizing the phases of transformation of matte. I wish also to point out the phases of its becoming to discover harmony and balance present in each phase in which matter, mysteriously takes form, obeying laws of physics that regulate its structure and the world which is in constant transformation.” Read more…

 

 

EMMANUEL LACOSTE, France

French conceptual jewellery artist EMMANUEL LACOSTE practices different kinds of art: sculpture, installation, performance, etc. But everything started with jewellery. “When I discovered how conceptually rich these tiny and precious objects were, it opened hidden doors leading to broad creative landscapes in my life.” Read more…

 

 

FELIEKE VAN DER LEEST, Norway

“When I work with colors, I feel like an artist when I am working with metal, I feel like a constructor, and when I am working with toys , I feel like a child, ” the artist comments on her creative process.“Often the carriers of my jewellery tell me stories about my artwork that I would not have been able to see in my jewellery“. Read more…

 

GIGI MARIANI, Italy

“Italian in emotion casing” – this is how one could describe Italian contemporary artist GIGI MARIANI from Modena in Northern Italy. Gigi’s other favorite passion is painting. His painting brushwork are rough and powerful. In the saturated terrain of scratches and cuts, texture is the way he reflects the processes of his inner world. In recent years, ornaments that resemble sculptural images becomes more the objects of emotional transfer. Read more…

 

MAIJA VĪTOLA, Latvia

“Creating jewellery is a beautiful, creative and time-consuming process – attentive work, emotions, reflection and satisfaction are a positive result and I want to convey that feeling and inspire other people. The inspiration for my work is the course of human life, the experience gained in it, the fundamental values that, layer by layer, make the jewel something valuable and precious, creating the inner core of each person – the soul.” Read more…

 

MARIA ROSA FRANZIN, Italy

“Many years ago, I saw an interesting exhibition about Etruscan everyday life and the “soul houses.” I was interested in these small forms – like small homes – as places where the meaning of people and their lives was embedded. At that moment I realized it was time to focus on Case dell’Anima, or the SOUL HOUSE. I like when there is an upcoming project on the horizon.” Read more…

 

NICOLAS ESTRADA, Spain

According to Nicolas, jewellery is not complete, not entire without such an essential component as wearer. Without someone who owns it, who lives with it, identifies, who brings out the jewellery, plays out the epithet of “I”.
And let it be a necklace – a brutal pistol. Read more…

 

REKA LORINCZ, Hungary

“Jewellery design, in my understanding, is an interpretation of today’s world, a kind of communication between the outside world and my inner world – making the invisible visible. With my jewellery, I look at the complex diversity of our world. The thrusts of emotion and reflection flow through me with the impulses of nature that I explore. With my objects, I try to illustrate the difference between what is shown and the real world – which sometimes looks captivating, false, even dangerous. ” Read more…

 

RENZO PASQUALE, Italy

“A person who wears jewellery completes the process of creating a work of art. This is where the true meaning lies. An artist creates a piece of jewellery as a poem, as a song, but the person who wears the piece sings the song along with the artist. It is the magic of the art of jewellery, when the work is reminiscent of poetry.” Read more…

 

SARA BARMANTI, Italy

“It all starts with the choice of material and its metamorphosis. This charcoal comes from my family’s vineyard called RESTERA. The jewellery I make is the story of my land and my origins.The jewel is born from the transformation of wood into charcoal, the metamorphosis of the material imparts value to the object, telling a story of unleashed shape shifting potential.” Read more…

 

TANEL VEENRE, Estonia

DARK ORCHID is a special piece from my newest series I will show winter 2020/21 – but I decided to show it before on the final show of PUTTI. Dangerous but tender, illusion of softness with black hard materials. And there is a real carved onyx combined with artificial onyx – as are our personalities, there are deep alleys of our real personality and then there are cultural influences on the top of it. BEAUTY OF BEING AS IT IS. Read more…

VALDIS BROŽE, Latvia

The designer tells that he has spent a lot of time studying books of anatomy in order to know better the human hand. This knowledge is needed when making two finger rings.
Valdis compares jewellery art to the process of creating a sculpture. The source of inspiration he finds in himself. Brože regards himself as an urban artist – since childhood he has been attracted by the smell of fuel in the air of big cities. Read more…

 

Exhibition design:

PUTTI ART GALLERY’S ANNIVERSARY AND FINALE

db.lv on the exhibition “JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY. FINALE” (link)

artterritory.com on the exhibition “JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY. FINALE” (link)

benchpeg.com on the exhibition “JEWELLERY IS NOT ONLY JEWELLERY. FINALE” (link)