Recently I came across Bruce Metcalf’s response to a text by Kevin Murray that AJF published on its blog a few months ago. Kevin’s text, ‘Aesthetics Versus Ethics: Judgment Day for Contemporary Jewelry,’ was written in preparation for the critical discourse session that AJF convened at the SNAG conference in 2011. We published it, Bruce didn’t like it and wrote about it on his blog. By then, we’d launched the new website and Kevin’s text hadn’t been moved over. So, in honor of what we think could be a useful moment of debate, we bring you Kevin’s text, below, and suggest you check out Bruce’s response, ‘Let History Be The Judge,’ on his blog. We’ve asked Kevin if he has anything else to say, and we’ll be publishing his thoughts on the AJF blog in a few days.
The other day I found Benjamin Lignel’s recent post in Art Jewelry Forum, ‘Just what is it that makes today’s art galleries so different, so appealing?’ It was a teasing title. A quick Google revealed its source as a collage by Richard Hamilton, satirizing 1950s consumerism.
So what makes the art gallery so appealing for contemporary jewelry? Benjamin was reflecting on the first exhibition of contemporary jewelry at Gargosian Gallery, arguably the most prestigious commercial visual art space on the planet. It was an occasion well worth noting. What followed was a series of salutary disappointments. Rather than select a known figure of the contemporary jewelry scene, Gargosian chose the work of a fashion designer with Dior, Victoria de Castellane.