Louisa Guinness Gallery is delighted to present "Scale of Beauty", a retrospective show of jewellery by Greek artist Sophia Vari.
This comprehensive show focuses on Sophia Vari's jewels from the 1980s to the present day. It will include some 50 works from across this period, including a series of new work created exclusively for the exhibition.
Jewellery first became a part of the artist's oeuvre at a time in her life when a punishing international schedule kept her always on the move. Whilst travelling she would carry with her a small box of Plasticine with which she would mould miniature sculptures. Exploring in small scale the preoccupations of her large-scale work, these miniature plasticine sculptures became the basis of her jewellery designs. In them, Vari elegantly intuits the line between function and form.
" If the material is beautiful, the passage of time instead of wearing it out, will refine it". Only the highest quality marble and bronze are used in Vari's large-scale works. Similarly, wood, gold and silver as well as coral, lacquer, crystal and root emerald are used in her jewellery. In both the artist employs her signature combination of painterly curves, accenting colour and bold geometric form. The compositional tension found in her large scale work is no less present in her jewellery.
