Kiff Slemmons ‘Huesos’ Exhibition

Kiff Slemmons has spent ten years collaborating with the artisans of Arte Papel in Oaxaca, Mexico. The result is a collection of paper jewelry which is highly sculptural and utilizes indigenous plants, fibers, natural and synthetic dyes. Along with her artisans, she is dedicated to “reviving the pre-Columbian tradition of making paper from natural fibers and … the possibility of being poetic in a visual language. ”

She explains: “Talking about paper in Oaxaca involves countering assumptions about the material, its fragility vs. strength, the metaphoric implications of paper in this regard, in relation to books and the culture at large. What paper meant in pre-contact culture in Mexico, its magnified significance after conquest, its current place in culture today, ours and theirs. “

Kiff Slemmons is a self-taught metalsmith, who has exhibited nationally and internationally for over thirty years. Her work can be found in numerous museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

EXHBITION
The exhibition ‘Huesos’ runs from February 7th through March 6th.
An opening reception with the artist will be held on Saturday February 11th from 7-9pm.
Complimentary transportation from New York City is available, please call 973 744 0061 to reserve a spot.

ARTIST LECTURE
Kiff will also be presenting a lecture at the 92nd St Y on Tuesday February 7th at 7pm.

We hope you can join us!

New in the drawers: Cristina Dias

Gallery Loupe welcomes the work of Brazilian artist Cristina Dias. Using silicon to mimic the “sparkle of jewels”, she challenges the traditional notion of value by creating a “preciousness” of her own.

In her words: “All That Glitters explores ideas of value and illusion, while evoking the preciousness of something lost, that ceased to be, that has been transformed, or that never was quite what it seemed. It humorously fools the eye and enlightens the spirit, all the while it quietly mourns the wars and environmental disasters triggered by the power and wealth associated with precious raw materials.”

Christina graduated with a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art, has exhibited widely across the United States and her work is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

BTW…Gallery Loupe at SOFA!

We are thrilled to announce that we will be exhibiting at SOFA New York for the very first time this year! Plans are well underway for this exciting venture, stay tuned for details about the artists and the work that will be coming with us…

Save the dates! Kiff Slemmons at Gallery Loupe

Mark your calendars as we are planning two exciting events in February with contemporary American artist Kiff Slemmons!

Kiff Slemmons lecture at the 92nd St Y: Tuesday February 7th, 7pm

Kiff Slemmons exhibition opening at Gallery Loupe: February 11th, 7-9pm

Stay tuned for more details.

Beate Eismann in Moss ‘Case Study’

Gallery Loupe’s ongoing collaboration with Moss continues with artist Beate Eismann’s rapid prototyped bracelets and paper brooches. 

The case features two unique collections, made using totally different processes. The bracelets are computer designed and 3D printed. Their surfaces are finished in silver and sometimes embellished with jewels. The paper brooches are created with handmade paper, and shaped into forms reminiscent of candy and chocolate packaging, bringing a sort of universal personal childhood memory to the wearer.

Beate Eismann’s jewelry has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Examples of her work are in the permanent collections of the State Art Museum Saxony Anhalt, Germany, the Museum of Applied Arts, Leipzig, Germany, the German Amber Museum, Ribnitz-Damgarten, the Municipal Collection Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and the CODA Museum, Apeldoom, the Netherlands. Eismann lives and works in Germany. 

Eismann’s work remains on view at Moss through January.

Happy New Year!

Ruth Reifen at Gallery Loupe

New to the gallery is Ruth Reifen — a wonderful young artist whose recent work with metal and automotive paint has us quite intrigued. A RISD graduate, Ruth has been garnering notice for her unusual perception of the world around her that result in “exaggerated treasures from nature” and more…

Read this interview between Design Break and Ruth and you’ll see what we mean:
Design Break: I’d love to hear about you, your journey, how it all began.
Ruth Reifen: After high school my family and I moved to London for a year. I studied in acting school full-time, theatre was and still is my first love. I decided to take evening beginners Jewelry making class with Liz Collins at Central Saint Martins College of Art. I was 17 at the time and had no idea what a great opportunity this would be. I immediately fell head over heels for the craft of silversmithing- I knew then and there that I belong at a jewelry bench with saw blades, files, torches, wax carving tools, drill bits, hammers, burrs, and most importantly METAL. It was so great, I used to sneak into classes that I wasn’t registered for just to keep working. So I ended up at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design and majored in Jewelry Design. Immediately after I continued my academic journey at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence RI, to get my MFA.

DB: Can you describe your work process for me?
Ruth Reifen: My process is so specific; I can’t resist it even though I’ve tried. Before I embark on a new or continue a body of work, I have many sleepless nights. I cannot sleep because I’m constantly thinking about the work. When I approach my bench, I let the mind rest and my intuition completely takes over. The aesthetic quality of my work is incredibly important to me and composition is everything!!! Maker hat is on, and the work begins.

DB: Which materials do you work with?
Ruth Reifen: Primarily metal, this material never ceases to challenge me as a maker. Gold, Silver, Copper they are elements- isn’t that crazy and fabulous? I always use one more material; this is where the materiality and crafting of the work become a part of its conceptual content. I love combining earthy substances with metal, they contrast as well as compliment each other. Recently I’ve been using Auto-motive paint with metal; I use it in a way so they enhance each other.

DB: What is the most unusual piece you have ever designed?
Ruth Reifen: I carved a huge log pendant out of wax and converted it with metal. The shift to a larger scale was a big step out of my comfort zone. Making a sculptural object that completely disregarded the body was a great exercise for me.

DB: I’d love to hear the story behind your MA final project.
Ruth Reifen: My MFA thesis work was a commentary to my observation on how we, as a modern western society, due to mass digital media, are exposed to sights we would have hardly come across otherwise in our daily lives. In my crafting process, I mimic the way I perceive the natural world rather than its appearance, in the form of flowery asymmetrical compositions.

DB: What’s next? What is your dream?
Ruth Reifen: I am now working on a new collection still dealing with the idea of “hyper reality”. I want to focus even more on wearable jewelry pieces. Little exaggerated treasures from nature- or are they?

DB: I’m curious to know where does your inspiration come from?
Ruth Reifen: I research, raise questions, and write; my work is always responding or related in some form to social phenomena.

DB: Can you tell me which designers inspire you?
Ruth Reifen: Every artist/designer is smart in a different way. I am lucky to have so many talented friends and so I guess it is my friends that are most Inspiring.

DB: What about some web sites and blogs that you visit regularly?
Ruth Reifen: I promise this is the honest truth- DesignBreak is my favorite, you are so design savvy and you feature such good work it is a pleasure to read your words!! I also go on ‘wearable art’ occasionally, Design Milk, Design*Sponge, and of course- Anthropologie.

DB: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Ruth Reifen: Two Women that are a true inspiration to me, RI based Jewelry artist and educator Noam Elyashiv said to me a few years ago: Don’t be afraid, just keep working! It made me realize that I shouldn’t waste my time on negative energy. And Biba Shutz a NY based Jewelry Artist and Metal sculpture said to me recently: If there are mice in your studio, sleep on the table! The Biba way saying be rigorous and committed.

DB: If you had an extra hour each day what would you do with it?
Ruth Reifen: Work in my studio!!! (- am I a workaholic?)

DB: And finally, please do share something random or quirky about yourself!
Ruth Reifen: I hate cooking with a passion. I miss my Mom’s cooking so much!!!

Interview from Design Break Online

Jewelry Exhibition at MAD: Picasso to Koons

Currently on display at the Museum of Arts and Design is a fantastic jewelry exhibition: Picasso to Koons: The Artist as Jeweler. Diane Venet, an avid collector of jewelry, curates this fascinating foray into the lesser known output of great artists like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Max Ernst and Anish Kapoor. These richly imaginative pieces were never intended for mainstream production, but rather were created as one-of-a-kind pieces or limited editions, that were often personal gifts made for family and friends, revealing an intimate view into the lives of the artists who created them.

Brooch by Picasso

Pendant by Koons

“We are thrilled to present a jewelry exhibition like this one, which in addition to being so visually engaging, reveals the more personal side of so many great artists,” says Holly Hotchner, MAD’s Nanette L. Laitman Director. “As the only museum in the country with a collection of contemporary art jewelry on permanent display, we take our role as an exhibitor of innovative and richly imaginative jewelry seriously. For us, it’s another tool in our mission to break down what we see as the false hierarchies dividing the various realms of material creation: art, design, and craft.”

The exhibition runs through January 8, 2012. More information is available on MAD’s website

KLAUS BÜRGEL OPENING PHOTOS

Last Saturday’s opening of Klaus Bürgel’s exhibition at the gallery was wonderful. We had a fantastic turnout and a lovely evening, thank you everyone for attending! Below are a few photos of the opening reception.

The exhibition of Klaus’s drawings and jewelry remain on display until December 12th.

KLAUS BÜRGEL AT GALLERY LOUPE

Klaus Bürgel is a rigorous craftsperson whose jewelry both disguises and flaunts it’s technical virtuosity. Each brooch in the Loop Series begins with an automatic drawing-which Bürgel scans into a computer and compresses before using the resulting image to cut into thin strips of metal he then begins to shape. A sculptural component enters the process as Bürgel adds layers of metal, rounding and blunting the edges of each loop so they too, become another set of surfaces and lines. Simultaneously forceful and delicate, they twist both outward and back in on themselves, restless and yet never aggressive. Their fluidity is an escape while reconfirming a sense of measured containment.

To be shown along with the jewelry are a series of drawings the artist began a year or more before the brooches, which although they never served as preliminary sketches for the jewelry, work to inform each other across media, with the drawings telling the mute brooches’ story, and the brooches partially operating as solidified line drawings.

Klaus Bürgel was born and raised in Germany where he earned both a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts. He came to the United States in 1980 and has since taught at many prestigious programs. He has lectured and curated worldwide.

The exhibition opens on November 14th and runs through December 12th. The opening reception with the artist in attendance will take place on Saturday November 19th from 7-9pm.

Complimentary round trip bus transportation from New York City is available for the opening reception on Saturday, November 19th. For information and reservations please call 973 744 0061. We hope you can join us for this exhibition!