Monthly Missive | Art As Jewellery x Jesus Rafael Soto

Dear Friends, Clients and Art Lovers, 

Welcome to our second Monthly Missive!

As you may already know, each month we will highlight one artist out of the 80+ artists featured within the book "Art As Jewellery; From Calder to Kapoor". With these newsletters we hope to share beautiful archive images, contemporary photographs (and jewellery we didn't have enough room to fit in!), to provide you with some context about how these titans of the art world came to create wearable art. We will also inform you about any upcoming events, exhibitions you may be interested in seeing in the Jewellery/Art World.

Firstly, I would also like to invite you to join me for my talk "Art As Jewellery with Louisa Guinness" and drinks reception at the V&A, London on 4 June, 2018 (from 19.00 - 20.45) at the Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre where I will providing a behind the scenes look at the stories that inspired artists like Alexander Calder, Anish Kapoor and Grayson Perry to create jewellery. Spaces are limited and booking is essential, for futher information click here.

"Art As Jewellery" is the perfect introduction to the makers, artists and institutions that have contributed and propelled the field of artist jewellery forward. If you don't already have a copy of the book, you may purchase it directly from the gallery, your favourite bookshop or Amazon.

Last month we focused on the French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle and featured her jewellery, sketches and major influence on the fashion world as seen on Dior's Spring/Summer 2018 Ready-To-Wear Collection. 

This month we are featuring the 20th century Venezuelan artist Jesus Rafael Soto. We begin with an excerpt which illustrates how Soto's installation at the XXXIII Venice Biennale in 1966 influenced his kinetic ‘Penetrable’ earrings which he created with artist jewellery producer GEM Montebello.

"In 1966, at the XXXIII Venice Biennale, Soto shrouded the walls of the Venezuelan pavilion in a suspended curtain of fine wire rods. Two years later, Soto’s earring design used a similar curtain of tightly packed suspended metal rods. Both works chart the artist’s progression towards his iconic, immersive ‘Penetrable’ sculptures composed of suspended wires. The ultimate exploration of movement, displacement and instability, the viewer is required to walk through the vine-like sculpture. The earrings are made in both yellow and white gold, having been originally made in silver with one half dipped in gold plate and the other left in a silver finish. They are the mirror of each other, with the clip also being represented in alternate metal finishes."