Seasonis honoured to present People Will Stare, a solo exhibitionof rings by esteemed adornment artist KarlFritsch. Fritsch manipulates ideas of preciousness,desire, convention, and taste. His idiosyncratic rings,growing out of or reworking pre-existing pieces, are highlycoveted.
They have made him a cult figure in the world ofcontemporary jewellery and have garnered him numerousawards. In 2006, he received the prestigious Françoise vanden Bosch Award, presented every other year to a jeweller ofinternational standing by an independent jury. This year, hewas a finalist in the influential LOEWE FOUNDATION CraftPrize.
He has collaborated with a range of other makers,including furniture designer Martino Gamper and artistFrancis Upritchard. ARTIST STATEMENT What Ifind really fascinating, and one of the reasons why it’sso interesting to make jewellery, is the moment ofrecognition when something that comes across as cute andpretty has on second glimpse an almost obscenegrotesqueness. I would say this quality probably works bestin jewellery, where politeness and cold-blooded anger canclash mercilessly into one another.
I see parallels inmy approach to jewellery and the growth of the rata tree.These trees start life as an epiphyte in the branches ofanother tree. As it grows the epiphyte rata sends roots downto the ground.
It eventually replaces the host tree when itdies. More than 20 years ago I began using conventionaljewellery pieces as a grounding material in my work. Likethe e.