Lignel observes that these works shift our attention away from the object as commodity, onto the performative act of making...one set of fingers at a time, a negative portrait of the maker's hand. The result is a conflicted statement of authorship. At once ironic (any child could have done this) and nostalgic (this is, after all, the ultimate hand-made piece, all fingerprints and signatures), it means to plot, on either side of the same coin, the particular position of craft in the fine arts: singular and generic, authorial and derivative, spectacular and predictable.
Ted Noten is a highly respected jeweller who has won numerous awards and accolades including international jewellery's prestigious Françoise van den Bosch Award (2008). In Ted Noten: gold, sweat & pearls he says, I make jewellery that takes some time getting used to. When you wear it, you make yourself vulnerable as it makes such a striking statement. I speak out through my jewellery and objects. I comment upon jewellery as a phenomenon, upon the industry or - like any artist - upon humanity.
Working as Atelier Ted Noten Ted Noten has stepped beyond the sphere of contemporary jewellery and created a high profile and successful international practice as a contemporary artist and designer which includes art and design projects, installations and commissions for private collectors, cultural organisations and art institutions. In 2011 Noten won the Dutch Artist of the Year award. Noten has previously shown at Objectspace in the 2007 exhibition European Voices in the Objectspace Vault.
Directed by Simone de Vries, the 53 minute documentary Ted Noten: gold, sweat & pearls (2010) is a portrait of the artist that includes a reunion with the work which launched his international career Turbo Princess (1995) a little mouse cast in acrylic and wearing a small pearl necklace.
Publication (online): Manon van Kouswijk and Fabrizio Tridenti
This online exhibition publication features the fine writing of leading international writers Meredith Turnbull (Australia) and Benjamin Lignel (France), who consider the work of Manon van Kouswijk and Fabrizio Tridenti within the framework of international contemporary jewellery practice.
Public Programme: Join Manon van Kouswijk and Fabrizio Tridenti for an artists' floor talk on Wednesday 8 February 2012, at 5.30pm.
Please note that Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning with Kim Hill programme on Saturday, 4 February 2012 included an interview with Ted Noten.