„5×8” - is the title of your latest exhibition presented at Museum of Contemporary Jewellery in Warsaw. What's behind the maths?
Coming up with a theme is always a problem. New themes emerge as the works are created, so the subject usually evolves. It was the same with this exhibition: it was originally meant to be a retrospective - it's now the 35th anniversary of my professional career. I had planned to show works from the last 10 years - the vast space at the Museum of Contemporary Jewellery encourages cross-sectional exhibitions. The concept changed when I found out that the vernissage was planned for 13 December. This is an important and very symbolic date that changed our thinking about freedom and independence. Katarzyna Kobro, who was associated with Lodz, presented such an unbreakable attitude in the field of art. In 2017, an exhibition inspired by her work, „We, the Heirs”, was held at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. The artist was looking for ideal proportions for her realisations and chose a ratio of sides close to the golden ratio of 5:8 - this is what I started from when designing the works for that exhibition. Since most of the later realisations are a continuation of this basic form, the whole exhibition was given the title „5×8”. Most of the works presented in the exhibition were created that year.
But I also see some older works here.
The selection of older works was based on a similar key - I chose realisations that speak to the problems we are currently facing. So there are works from last year's exhibition Two Elements, inspired by the storms that swept through our country. Since fingers appear in several realisations, I have also shown older works with this element. The oldest of these - and the oldest in the exhibition - was created in 2003 for the exhibition „Symbols of Love”.
But let's return to these new works in the exhibition.
A year ago I was on a pilgrimage in Israel. I was hugely impressed by the graffiti on the wall between Palestine and Israel - an incredibly energetic place. There I realised that graffiti has now taken over the role of jewellery as a message carrier. I was strongly inspired by this - I even bought magnets with Banksy's graphics there, which I later used in three works. I also returned to the form of a spiked frame, which, as it turned out, worked perfectly because you can put virtually any content into it. This resulted in a fairly substantial collection of more than 50 brochures relating to topics such as me too, paedophilia in the Church, ecology, shopaholism, species extinction, climate warming - global issues we are currently facing. I tried to make them - like the graffiti - clear messages. I did not give them titles so as not to take away the possibility of their own interpretation.
A lot of suffering in them...
Arguably, it is this thorny framework that creates such an impression. We fence ourselves in, isolate ourselves from everything and everyone. We see danger everywhere, we build entanglements. We become paranoid. But this is also the current situation in the world... In this way, I am also referring to 13 December, which significantly changed our mentality. However, I did not want to engage in unnecessary martyrdom, so I consciously did not reach for soldiers or tanks. Even without them, these brooches reflect a situation of general danger caused by such phenomena as shopaholism, extinction of species, flood of rubbish, permanent surveillance... We are slowly forgetting that there used to be places where we felt free and safe...
Jewellery has always been primarily a message for you?
In the 1980s, when I started designing, I created silver forms inspired by geometry - that was the thinking I got from school. But at some point I started to look for new materials with their own energy, new forms of expression, but also new content. Jewellery is not just an ornamental form: I believe it should go back to its origins and carry important content. Maybe not all my works are very clear messages, but for this exhibition I tried to simplify them - the strength of the message lies precisely in simplicity.
The materials used to build this message with jewellery are also unlikely to be associated....
Every material conceals a message. It is carried by tradition, by colour, by its physical characteristics. I used to argue that it was better to talk about new issues through new materials because they are not so loaded with meanings. Everything comes back and suddenly you find that these old messages overlap with new ones and a multi-layered message is created. Lately I have noticed that this is sometimes a big advantage in realisations, and I no longer shy away from certain materials or colours. Before the opening at the Museum of Contemporary Jewellery, two art history students found references to 19th-century patriotic jewellery in these brooches - through thorns and black colour. I have always prepared all parts of the realisation for a specific project. Much of the elements used in the brooches on display are „leftovers” from unused parts from old works - so there is also an eco approach.
Do artists have a responsibility to respond to what is happening around them?
Every artist is different, everyone reacts to different stimuli. I heard recently that there's no point in doing pure art because there's nothing left behind - except a carbon footprint (laughs). So in order not to waste energy, we should be engaged. We live in such times where new information is constantly coming at us. Because artists live their emotions, they are reflected in their work. Jewellery - like any other art - is a means of reaction. It allows me to express my disagreement with what is happening around me.
Are you teaching students just this way of looking at jewellery?
Jewellery should be a message, so artists should tell a little about themselves and the world around them through jewellery. Sometimes they struggle with what they want to say and how they want to say it - but it's a matter of time and practice.
It's 35 years into your career - how do you sum up that time?
I have no reason to complain. I've stayed in my profession for so many years: working as an educator, doing what I like. An important moment was when I became a professor - then I stopped having to and could finally start doing what I want. This job has many advantages, but it can also be a curse - I spend every free moment in the studio.
Jewellery used to be an ornament, today it is primarily a message - what will it be in the near future?
I have noticed that works change meanings or take on new ones depending on the changing situation. Today, everything is information. We wear something to tell a story about ourselves, but others can tell more about us from it than we can ourselves: a fashion accessory tells us how trendy we are, while a grandmother's heirloom tells us about our emotions and tastes. We feel a strong need to stand out - jewellery can be one of the attributes. So there is a chance that the fashion for unique products will return. Traditionally, jewellery is made from metal - a material that is constantly recycled. So our business does not produce rubbish, so there is a chance that it will continue to grow.
Prof. Andrzej Boss - runs the Studio of Goldsmiths„ Forms Design at the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and also teaches at the Higher Technical School in Katowice. He has been designing jewellery, utilitarian objects and small sculptural forms for 35 years. Participant of more than 100 collective exhibitions and about 20 individual exhibitions. Lives and works in Łódź. In his works, he often uses amber, in which he highly values the possibility of discovering its ”inner worlds' and the inspiring forms of natural nuggets, which very often suggest the final shape of the work.
An exhibition of his work - jewellery through which the artist draws attention to existing global issues - can be seen at the Museum of Contemporary Jewellery in Warsaw's Koneser Centre until 17 January 2020.
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