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Karl Fritsch: Some Rings are Fuckwits

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Karl Fritsch
Installation, Karl Fritsch: Some Rings Are Fuckwits, Hamish McKay Gallery
Karl Fritsch
Installation, Karl Fritsch: Some Rings Are Fuckwits, Hamish McKay Gallery

Available for close scrutiny, the raw power of the casting process and the artist’s fingerprints marking the surface of the soft wax in the shaping of each piece, are easier to read. The technical skill of traditional stonesetting and the rebellious exaggerated opposite of the obscuring prong or the vastly expensive laser-cut hole through the gem can be closely observed. Viewing feels a little dangerous – the heart can beat a little faster, hands sweat, as questions like, ‘What if?’ ‘How much?’ ‘Which one?’ flit unbidden through the mind. There is, however, room for a small, more intellectual exercise: ‘Why these?’ Is there something perverse in wanting to understand why some pieces can be sold and others must remain with the artist?

Karl Fritsch
Karl Fritsch, Salt Shakers, 1997, silver, glass

Fritsch’s blend – tradition and anarchy – provides a challenge for every viewer. 

Author

  • Vivien Atkinson was born in Melbourne, Australia and now lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She completed a BFA (Hons) at Massey University, Wellington, an MFA at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia and a BAPPA at Whitireia Polytechnic in Porirua, New Zealand. She is an active participant in TheSeeHere and TimRex and is a visual-arts fellow and part-time tutor (Contextual Studies) at Whitereia Polytechnic.

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