Small Sculpture to Wear
An exhibition of jewellery made by contemporary artists.

At: Ben Brown Fine Arts, 21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ

Dates:  Tuesday 20^th November at 5pm until Saturday 24^th November 2007 at 4pm. After these dates all works will continue to be on view in the gallery.

Private View: 6pm to 8pm Tuesday 20^th November.

The Louisa Guinness Gallery works with artists who usually sculpt or paint and invites them to create jewellery.

This selling exhibition focuses on new work by Michael Craig Martin, Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn and Ron Arad. Also on show will be other works conceived with the gallery for past exhibitions by Sam Taylor Wood, Gavin Turk, Antony Gormley. Part of the collection of Louisa Guinness will be included in the exhibition with works by Max Ernst, Lucio Fontana, Alexander Calder, Niki de Saint Phalle, Meret Oppenheim, Claude Lalanne also.

        Michael Craig Martin                                    Marc Quinn                                          Ron Arad

Anish Kapoor

Gallery Background

What we do now

Work with today’s leading sculptors and painters to make jewellery. Collect and deal in past artist’s works focusing especially on jewellery.

History

The Gallery opened in May 2003 with an exhibition of Donald Judd Furniture. This was followed by a Ron Arad exhibition which confirmed interest in a new and developing market. The world of design meets function meets furniture meets art; Louisa Guinness identified a growing interest in this and decided to concentrate on inviting artists better known for their skills in the world of painting or sculpture to try their hand at inventing functional objects. Then followed the ‘Minimalist’ exhibition and ‘Garden furniture’ with works by Yves Klein, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Wentworth, Sol LeWitt. For further details see individual pages on exhibitions or artists.  

This trend developed further. Having discovered that Picasso, Braque and Calder, to name but a few of the old masters, had made jewellery; Louisa Guinness decided to explore this angle also. She approached Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Sam Taylor Wood and worked with them to realise some wonderful new pieces to bring the exhibition of ‘Past and Present – Jewellery by 20^th Century artists’ up to date. This was the beginning of a new era.

Each new work is published in a small edition to the highest standard. Most are handmade in London’s famous Hatton Garden district or the artist’s studio. Handmade leather boxes, some with Perspex lids have been made in order to display the jewellery. The ethos behind the jewellery is that it serves as small sculpture whist it is not being worn, it can sit on a coffee table or in a dressing room as a work of art.

Louisa Guinness uncovered a new market, rich with ancient gems in the homes of some lucky collectors and occasionally appearing at auction and decided this was an area she intended to focus on. Her husband, Ben Brown has taken over dealing with Ron Arad and Louisa Guinness spends her time talking to artists and jewellery makers and creating new works of jewellery to add to her stable. She has established herself as the leading dealer in artist’s jewellery in the world.

The space on Sloane Avenue was closed and all works have been moved to Ben Brown Fine Arts, 21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ. They are permanently on view and also can be seen at Art Fairs on the stand of Ben Brown Fine Arts in Milan, Bologna, Dubai and London.

Louisa Guinness is very excited about new works in the pipeline, too early to announce but watch this space.

For further information please email
Louisa Guinness Gallery

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