Bizarre review of Objectified

I read this Washington Post article, and I was confused. Then I was disappointed. Now I'm confused again. In any event, I'm not too proud to not share an unfavorable review for Objectified. It seems to me that the format of the review is terribly confusing, that paired with the authors neglect to accurately reflect the intentions of the artists kindof baffled me.

In any event, you can read the article here.

The Hope Diamond

Yeah, so I totally fell prey to all the hype surrounding the Hope Diamond, and I went to go see it on my whirwind tour of D.C. The 45 carat diamond is currently on display at the National Museum of Natural History. In my defense, I went to the museum with the intention of visiting their mineral display (which is phenomenal), and didn't even really know that the Hope Diamond was there.

There were a couple of things about the Hope Diamond that I found really interesting. First, this was the first time that it's been displayed unset. I felt that this was an honest way to show the diamond without the added distraction of the necklace. Also, the empty necklace without the diamond set in it was stunning on its own. It looked almost lonely in it's incompleteness, and I really liked the nostalgia and vulnerability of the separation.

The other thing that really threw me about the Diamond was the fact that the exhibit actually addressed the fact that the stone is thought to be cursed. There are stories, although inaccurate, that depict the Hope Diamond originally being stolen from a Hindu Temple or being initially set in a religious sculpture; with the curse resulting from the sacrilege of the stones removal. Although a lot of the stories surrounding the stone are embellished or fabricated entirely, some of the lore is true. Many people who have encountered the diamond have died untimely deaths, from owners to stone setters, to potential thieves. It's interesting how the history of the stone has been fabricated in such a way as to transform the diamond into an idol to be both feared and worshiped.

Images: original sketch of the Hope Diamond, uncut; Hope Diamond and empty setting at the Smithsonian.

Brian Jungen exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian

While I was in D.C. recently I spent a day touring the mall and the Smithsonian Museums. I'm pretty proud of myself for seeing four monuments, three museums, one gallery, and the White House (much less impressive that I'd imagined) all in one day... it was a serious Americana binge that I'm still recovering from!

One of the best exhibits that I saw was at the National Museum of the American Indian, Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort. The show was amazing, and Jungen's work was phenomenal. The installation of the show was really impressive, the gallery was dimly lit with spot lights only illuminating the works. It gave a very intimate/anthropological feel to the show. When you enter the gallery space, the first work that you see is a scale whale skeleton made entirely out of white plastic lawn chairs serenely suspended in the dark space. It was really awe inspiring, and considering that I had just come from the Natural History Museum, the dichotomy between form and material was even more conceptually exciting.

Jungen also had on display gas cans which had traditional Native American designs pierced into them. Monarch is pictured above. I really appreciate his honest use of consumer materials and how he blends them together with traditional symbols from his ancestry. He does a good job at transforming the original materials, and having the content become a little more subtle. Another example of this would be the traditional masks that he has stitched out of deconstructed Nike Airs.

The show was great, and I ended up buying the catalog for the show, which is a beautiful publication that has lots of interesting back story on the pieces. If you're in D.C. this is a show that you really shouldn't miss!

Alloy Gallery Showcard

Here is the show card from the opening at Alloy Gallery last week. If you couldn't make it to the opening, be sure to swing by this summer, Tamar has a great group of artists exhibiting there and my work will be up all summer.

Meta at the MFA Boston summer gala...

SNEAK PREVIEW! This is a picture I took at Alloy Gallery last night when Tamar and I were hanging my work for the opening on Thursday night. Tamar found some packaging tape with an ornate frame motif printed on it, so we used the tape to create a dedicated space on the wall for my necklaces. I love how bold the pieces look against the bright yellow wall!

Installation Views of Objectified

So, I've finally had a moment to sit down and get this post up since returning from D.C. I had a great time in Washington, Honfleur was a wonderful gallery to work with, and the people from ARCH (a nonprofit, and Honflers parent company) were so helpful and friendly. I also kindof fell in love with the neighborhood of Anacostia, which is a historic neighborhood south of the river in D.C. Although Anacostia has a little bit of a bad reputation, as far as I can tell, it's unwarranted. There is a wonderful arts and revitalization movement going on in the area, and it really shows... it doesn't have a static feel at all, but you can actually feel Anacostia buzz and hum with energy and forward movement.

I've included images below of the final installation, which I'm really happy with. Briony Evans, the creative director and Honfleur, and Beth Ferraro, the creative director for the Gallery at Vivid Solutions, were phenomenal and the show wouldn't have been quite as successful with out their help.

Installation view, right of gallery

Installation view, left of gallery

Robert Longyear: Neckpiece installation view

Jeanne Jo: If A Mouth Were To Whisper... and accompanying photo

Colleen Heineman: Sorted Conglomerates

Andrea Miller: Peripheral System #4 and accompanying photo

Brightest Young Things hypes OBJECTIFIED

The Washington DC based arts and culture blog, Brightest Young Things, has included an article on their website about Objectified. Their writers came to Honfleur Gallery this week for a preview of the show, and to do a behind the scenes interview about the objective of the exhibition.

I think that it was a challenging exhibition to write a synopsis about on the fly, and I think that BYT ended up writing a pretty good article, although I wish that it discussed the artists concepts a little more precisely. I'm just glad that they took the time to come to the gallery to check out the show.

You can read the article here.

FROM THE RENWICK GALLERY: Gari Melcher's The Bride from 1907.

Field Trip to JewelersWerk Galerie

So, we've been working hard to install the show at Honfleur Gallery, and it's looking great! Although the opening is tomorrow, after making a list of all the tasks that we have left to address, we decided that we had enough time to take the afternoon off and head over to visit JewelersWerk Galerie.

JewelersWerk is a tiny exhibition space nestled into Cady's Alley, just off of M Street in Georgetown. The gallery is extremely well designed, and features endless display drawers filled with jewelry made by some of today's most prominent makers. Currently on display is the work of Esther Knobel, a Polish born Israeli artist who has been recently honored with the Andrea M. Bronfman Prize for outstanding Israeli Decorative Arts.

Knobel's work features enameling, electroformed copper, and other avant sculptural processes with more traditionally recognized jewelry making techniques such as stringing pearls and bead work. I really likes her work, especially the color scheme and the pairing together of contrasting design elements. I also fell in love with the way that her work references organic origins and inspirations.

Esther's display was also beautifully informal and visually accessible to the viewer. Her pieces were laid out on unstretched canvas, with titles written directly on the fabric and walls. I ended up buying her book, The Mind in the Hand, and can't wait to dive into it and investigate her studio practice a little more.

I've attached a couple images of the gallery, in all it's compact glory.