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| Gold and Polyester Pneuma Brooch Pin |
Although the city is renowned for being the birthplace of Rembrandt as well as other influential thinkers, Leiden offers annual music and film festivals.
The Netherlands is also home to featured jewelry designer Ruudt Peters.
It just got seriously weird!
To say that contemporary art jewelry is daring is an
understatement.
Viewing this jewelry style is akin to entering a parallel universe; a bizarro world where jewelry become objects of wonder in a shocking and provocative way.
Viewing this jewelry style is akin to entering a parallel universe; a bizarro world where jewelry become objects of wonder in a shocking and provocative way.
Contemporary art jewelry makes no apologies for what it is. If statement jewelry is a style rebellion,
contemporary art jewelry is a full-blown revolution!
As is the case with this jewelry style, Peters’ expansive
collections of items hold no resemblance to traditional rings, brooch pins, or
pendant necklaces. His creations
completely lack any specificity but that is the whole point.
Peters’ ideas and concepts are deeply embedded in the
abstract arrangement of materials that include sterling silver, magnetite,
polyester, calcite and rubber.
Though his jewelry creations are informed by various
philosophies including Buddhism, kabbalah and alchemy, Peters only provides
titles or names to his designs. An observer
is therefore left to form his or her own ideas about the design without the intrusion of
his own.
The 63-year-old graduate of Gerrit Rietveld Academie has enjoyed a career of thirty-nine years
(and counting).
Considering that the
Netherlands is currently the premier site for the largest number of
contemporary art jewelry galleries, I was surprised to learn that Peters felt
creatively stifled during his early years as a visual artist.
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| Sterling Silver and Desert Rose Mibladen Ring |
The self-described “jewelry maker” began his career at age
twenty-four during the mid-seventies. At
this time the artist community adhered to strict specifications and
restrictions.
His sculpture and jewelry conceptualizations, such as an
inflatable suit made of transparent PVC foil, were radical and not readily accepted
by his peers.
Consequently he continued
to make sculpture but refrained from making jewelry. It was not until many years later that he was
coaxed out of self-imposed retirement by the passion of ancient Italian
artists.
“I was educated during a period of absolute restraint. A systematic way of working and minimalism
were of vital importance. Gold and
silver were denied and even repudiated.
In the early eighties I became interested in the work of
Italian architects Francesco di Giorgio and Giambattista Piranesi and I made a
series of plaster collars, and Formica bracelets inspired by Roman
architecture.
Needless to say my non-formalistic concepts were observed as
questionable because artists were still struggling with the formalist dogma;
but I continued to create series pieces.
Jewelry is my laboratory.
I observe my jewelry as subservient.
I want people to carry my jewels and to charge them with their own
meanings and personality. I really love
to constantly try to push the borders of possibility.”
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| Sterling Silver and Polyester Thenandiet Brooch Pin |
Peters’ inclusive design styles calls on rubber, polyester and an actual desert rose to produce jewelry.
You can view more of Peters' contemporary art pieces at Klmt02.net.
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