Svenja John ‘Assembly’ @ Gallery Funaki

I do like the revamped Gallery Funaki website. You can see many of the pieces in this exhibition online if you aren’t in Melbourne; though it’s certainly worth personally seeing the current exhibition if you can, for Svenja John‘s ‘Assembly‘ is a riot of colour.

photograph taken with gallery permission

Exhibition media: ““In the 20 years since I began working with the polycarbonate MakrofolTM I have developed, bit by bit, my own ‘Jewellery Construction Kit’. In the beginning there were only bone-shaped parts (which I called x-bones), linked together with rings of various sizes to form chains, earrings and bracelets. Eventually more than 10 different basic elements developed from which all the complex jewellery assemblies are plugged together““.

Svenja has a wonderful gift of putting colours together; and the mobiles are whimsical and I think I’d like one in my house.

photograph taken with gallery permission

To me the neckpieces are the stars of the exhibition. Strangely though I think I love the photographs of them more than the items themselves in person. It’s a strange thing indeed; I’m quite unsettled by the realisation. Perhaps the photographs are taken with some backlight, as the material somehow seems more translucent or even glowing.

Most attractive about these constructions are their allusions to medieval jewellery and Berlin iron work. My favourite is the piece in the middle; unfortunately there isn’t a detailed image of it on the exhibition site, but the colour combination is magnificent – magenta, purples, greys.

photograph taken with gallery permission

I did take some photographs of the right-hand side of the gallery, but I was a little distracted at the time and it was only when I arrived home that I realised they were all out of focus. Oopsies.

Svenja John ‘Assembly‘ is at Gallery Funaki until 25th October 2014.

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Also see: Svenja John ‘X_BRANEN‘ @ Gallery Funaki, August 2009

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Svenja John ‘X_BRANEN‘ @ Gallery Funaki

Oh I am so sad that this month has gone by so quickly that I am only now writing about this wonderful exhibition. It closes this weekend – so you need to run to Gallery Funaki today or tomorrow if you are to see it in person! Sorry for such short notice.

Exhibition media states: “In her latest jewellery, Svenja John works with her material, macrofol, four times thicker than she is used to. She has turned away from a spatial attachment system that creates volume, preferring a linear, additive method based on the principle of a chain and links.”

X-BRANEN translates to X-BONES, and many of the elements are indeed skeletal. The immediate connection for me was to children’s toys and cartoons – both from the form of the materials, the thickness and shapes, and of course the colours. For example, the piece below has colouring that unexpectedly reminded me of a ‘Transformer’ (from the 80s cartoon, not from the recent movie) or even Skeletor (from the cartoon ‘Masters of the Universe’) … and the reverie begins…

from Gallery Funaki, image used with gallery permission

The exhibition is interesting in that it has the X-BRANEN collection shown interspersed with a smaller number of pieces from her previous BREATH collection.

For me this does interrupt the flow and cohesiveness a little – mixing larger bolder thicker objects with fragile delicate ones. There is a significant difference in the feel of each group, most obviously in material thickness (though it is the same actual material), colour and construct. Putting these pieces side-by-side puts them into a dialogue I wasn’t entirely sure about. That said though, I am very happy to see the older works, as they are totally gorgeous and I like them very much.

from Gallery Funaki, image used with gallery permission

Svenja is a high-profile European jeweller, and to have an exhibition of her work in Melbourne is fantastic. More of her work can be seen on her site, Klimt02, JewelersWerk Gallery, and Contemporary Applied Arts site.

The macrofol in the new works has been water-jet cut, and was hand-cut in the older pieces; and in both cases has been hand-coloured. The careful design and planning necessary to put all the components together in the X-BRANEN work is amazing, as they’re quite complex.

Below are some of my sketches of the works …

Svenja John’s ‘X_BRANEN‘ is at Gallery Funaki until 29th August 2009.