Artist: Brian Adam - Turangawaewae
Email: brian@adam.co.nz
Orchid Gallery: http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/badam.htm
‘Turangawaewae’ (NZ Maori: ‘Identity’, ‘Source of Creativity’)
is the theme for this year’s New Zealand Biennial Jewellery
Exhibition organised by The Dowse Art Museum, to tour NZ
1998/2000. I’m one of a twenty or so New Zealand Contemporary
Jewellers selected to exhibit. These works are part of my
response.
Statement
Eyewear today is no longer just visual aid. It’s evident by the
way we put on looking glasses to transform the flaw of our
deteriorating eyesight into a significant asset that they have
evolved into another way of daily self-expression. Frames as
picture frames have supplanted the eyes, they mask, screen or
mirror the face till the part stands for the whole.
'Self Portrait'
900 silver, birch ply, leather + lenses
I want to introduce frames from historical high points for me
such as the 14th century leather frames here brought out of, um,
hiding for a new life. These works fit in with my other eyewear
jewellery; from my first paua shades of 1984 to the recent
surprisingly modern 18th-century-derived silver eyeglasses. The
way these are crudely sawn from the sterling in the manner of
those times reveals my soft-tech roots.
'LeopardTin Pillbox Specs'
painted tincan
I’ve made a range of tab-and-slot plastic-extrusion spectacle
kitschsets for New Zealanders to cut out, assemble the tabs and
shout ‘I AM!’
Email: Brian Adam
Website: http://www.adam.co.nz
The Orchid Gallery is the visual front of the Orchid list. It is
here where we show each other with our creations. Send us your
entry as an Email attachment to service@ganoksin.com [Lapidary,
gem cutters and gem carvers are also welcome to participate!]