Tolerable Wearable Artwork

IS there any expression in fine jewelry more noxious-sounding than a necklace or bracelet that is described as “wearable art”?

Somehow, it sounded less pretentious when standing in Salon 94 Freeman, a gallery on Freeman Alley on the Lower East Side, talking to artists whose work for a show opening Thursday happens to focus on jewelry. Paradoxically, some of their work is actually unwearable, but nevertheless intriguing enough make you want to try.

This is the first exhibition by a company called the Crown Jewels, which is a joint venture among a group of art professionals (Andrea Schwan, a public relations consultant, and the dealers Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Zesty Meyers and Evan Snyderman) who plan to show hand-crafted jewelry and other small objects in different spaces around the city.

The show includes silver necklaces based on hip-hop bling by Kiki Smith (one with a tarantula pendant and a star costs $5,000); a ceremonial crown and ring set made from reclaimed gold jewelry by Kara Hamilton ($45,000 for the set); and older pieces by Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson.

There are also some more-accessibly priced items like Murano glass rings for $550 by Manuela Zanvettori. Outside, in the alley, there is a selection of Christmas trees by Marilyn Minter ($180), or rather life-size wall decals cut in the shape of a decorated fir.

As Mr. Meyers was unpacking a series of roughly hewn rings by the German designer Karl Fritsch made of unpolished gold points that extended from the finger as a stalagmite might, Francis Uprichard was in a corner laying out her necklace of skulls made of Super Sculpey modeling clay in the drawer of a neosurrealist vanity by Martino Gamper.

“This show takes the approach that the work is made by the artists’ own hands,” Ms. Rohatyn said.

Some of it was done so quite literally. Katia Bassanini, for instance, painted representations of famous paintings through history, including works by Matisse, Picasso and Mondrian, on acrylic press-on nails that will sell in the gallery for $150 each.
Source: nytimes