`Australian Gold' provokes and challenges

`Australian Gold' provokes and challenges

By Rina Rao

JAKARTA (JP): Contemporary crafts are often ignored as being
mere experimentation in the field of art and design. While to
some extent that may be true, they do deserve attention as they
alert people -- artist and viewer alike -- to the creative
possibilities of the media they use.

Today jewelry and metalwork have lost their functional
attributes and tend to be for display or ceremonial significance,
or experimentation with form.

Australia Gold, an exhibition of contemporary Australian
jewelry and metalwork on show through tomorrow at the Australian
Cultural Center, includes the works of some noted Australian
metalsmiths and affords a glimpse of Australian innovation,
creativity and diversity in the area of contemporary design and
the visual arts.

The works on show are innovative, provocative, and challenging
to preconceived notions. The forms are created with richness and
strength. The traditional associations of gold are challenged,
and the artists often play, explore or undercut our expectations
with humor and restraint. Gold is often used as a small
highlight, a minor component amid less precious and less
culturally-loaded materials.

Precision

Susan Cohn exhibits precision craftsmanship in her golden
doughnut, three bracelets and an ashtray in fine gold and
anodized aluminum. These pieces can also be used as a brooch,
earrings or bracelet.

Thus she plays with the traditional concept of functionality
and display, as well as the cultural associations of certain
materials. Her work juxtaposes the mundane with the exclusive in
a playful, humorous way with great technical skill.

Mark Edgoose's masculine forms are practical, functional and
sculptural within an abstract framework. Color is used boldly,
and the forms are startlingly modern. Bain-Marie and 6 Containers
in titanium and aluminum employ high-technology industrial
processes rather than traditional metalworking methods.

The lack of restraint in the mixing of metals and the freedom
to explore form and materials has created an individual
vocabulary that is unique. Though not immediately appealing,
Edgoose's work is very innovative.

Mari Funaki's container in mild steel and brooches in 22-carat
gold are a visual delight. They are minute and detailed, with
sharp, crisp edges and a great sense of precision. Visual
relationships coupled with careful craftsmanship are her
hallmark.

Marian Hosking's pieces have simple shapes and forms, but she
uses pierced decoration judiciously and skillfully. An interplay
of light and shadow penetrates the forms, and compliments the
surfaces with repetitive patterning. This creates a surface
rhythm and spatial illusion. The open barn box and plate are
cases in point.

Junji Konishi's creations are truly lovely. His works are
sculpturesque -- fluid forms using gold and silver in an
extremely sophisticated manner. Movement and rhythm in the
various forms take wing in a burst of abstraction. While his Tea
Service in silver and 18-carat gold and Candelabra are beautiful
works of art, Distillation 2000 is an almost ethereal piece of
sculpture in silver and fine gold.

Futuristic

Andrew Last's Eggs in space uses cast iron and cast aluminum
along with a dash of gold and silver, which is quite appealing.
The futuristic designs are inspired by flying objects and
concerns of function, shape, material and scale are carefully
orchestrated.

Carlier Makigawa's bracelets, brooches and neck pieces in
silver, monel, gold, etc., explore the relationship between
architecture, the human body and rituals, and are done with a
playful ethnic touch. Christopher Mullins' bowl and rings explore
geometric shapes like the circle, square and parabola, and
contrast various color and surface treatments. Interaction
between internal and external form is also articulated.

Miyuki Nakahara's set of four medallions uses the repousse
technique with restraint and sophistication. Her four themes
characterize her response to Australian iconography. Janine
Tanzer's dishes and brooches in silver, gold and enamel use
natural forms in an attractive and elegant manner. She
reinterprets old forms in a modern context with modern materials.

Beatrice Schlabowsky creates forms based on circular and
rectangular sections. She draws on folklore and modern technology
to create architectural forms with a strong presence. A sensitive
combination of materials and subtle surface finishes like pate de
verre glass along with gold, monel and stainless steel give her
work a special richness.

All the artists in this show emphasize simple and elegant
form, functionality and fine craftsmanship, while drawing upon
tradition or motifs from indigenous flora and fauna. Old
techniques are infused with great technical skill and a strong
spirit of renewal, creating forms with richness, humor and
strength.