Last June 6, 2015 my
artisan apprentices and I attended
Steph Lopez’s solo exhibit at
BostonGallery Cubao, Quezon City. As an accomplished sculptor, Steph has done
over dozens of exhibits, but it was her first time displaying
art jewelry.
Artjewelry differs from standard
jewelry in terms of standard
jewelry in that
materials are used are of lower value. It doesn’t use precious metals, gems, or
stones; but rather focuses on design and creative expression.
In a way,
art jewelry is a statement against consumerism. It
is taking commonplace materials, “crap” when defined in terms of value, and
turning them into something unique, surreal, and constructive. It is taking
pieces of broken glass and fashioning them into a piece that bridges
jewelry to
high art and well-thought out design. While traditional jewelry making is about
guarding secrets, such as where to source diamonds, pearls, gold, and the like;
art jewelry is about sharing techniques, information, and ideas.
Art jewelry can be traced
to early 19th century Arts and Crafts movement. It can be best described as a movement
pertaining to fine arts, which flourished in Europe and North America. The
movement soon began to spread internationally, as artists began to put more
value into traditional craftsmanship advocating a change into the consciousness
of society to put more value into indigenous techniques and style.
As the noted social
critic John Ruskin put it, industrialization may have optimized production for
goods in an assembly line fashion, but this has no place in art. Mechanization
and maximization of profitability, to him, was the beginning of a slow death
for traditional techniques that have been handed down through the generations.
Consider Dafen Village in
Southern China. The place specializes in copying masterpieces in a massive
scale. At the heart of it, they produce fake art. Thousands of hours are spent
in what amounts to mimicking, and a painter earns $0.35 per piece copied. Though
I do not aim to question or belittle the skills of these artists, they have
become servile laborers, subject to economic shifts and emerging markets.
Consider a work of art being priced based on the number of brushstrokes rather
than simply being. It becomes tantamount to fast food, and much like fast food
is not good for your body; it’s also not good for your soul, as it stifles
creativity and the beauty of existing as an individual.
Photography by Carlo Cayabyab
Keeping it real.- PJV
