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Home , Art jewelry

Lisa Gralnick

THE STANDARD

If the intellectual questions plumbed in the first two

parts of The Gold Standard leave you a bit dizzy,

the final section is pure beauty and substance.

Robin Updike

“I have a history of going from very stark intellectual works into very poetic pieces. It’s like two sides of me that need to be fed.” 44 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010

33_4_LisaGralnick4.PBL.captions.JD.CB.indd 44 6/21/10 4:58 PM 33_4_LisaGralnick4.PBL.captions.JD.CB.indd 45 of goldbroochesandotherpieces andwasabletobuyahouse that way.”Gralnick,infact,did notmeltdownherinventory my mindaboutmakingartthat wasaboutweighingchoicesin me inmylife,likeowningahome. Thenotionwentoffin artist andcomparedittootherthingsthatwereimportant payment andforthefirsttimeIweighedmycareerasan So Igottheideaofmeltingdownallmygoldfora discover thatwasnotthecase. money tobuyaniceplaceinMadison.Shewassurprised her houseinupstateNewYorkshewouldhaveplentyof skewed viewoftherestworld,sheassumedthatbyselling a homeinMadison.AnativeNewYorkerwithYorker’s University ofWisconsintheyearbeforeandshewantedtobuy She hadacceptedapositionasprofessorofartatthe Jim Escalante,courtesyoftheBellevueArtsMuseum. THE GOLDSTANDARDPARTI:#8RHINOPLASTYofplaster,goldandacrylic;40.6x38.1centimeters,2005. W also asksustoconsiderhowobjectsmadeofluxurymaterials, objects versustheirculturalandpersonalvalue.Gralnick challenge viewerstoconsiderthedollarsandcentsvalueof retrospective ofthelasteightyearsGralnick’scareer— The threediscreetpartsoftheexhibition—whichisreallya craftsmanship withthought-provokingconceptualart. basis foranambitiousbodyofworkthatmarriesmasterful Gralnick usesgoldandgoldsmithingtechniquesasthe Bellevue, Washington.Intheshow,calledTheGoldStandard, through August15,2010,attheBellevueArtsMuseumin Gralnick exploresinahighlyoriginalexhibitionnowonview history, andrealworldeconomics. discussion involvingsocietalvalues,personalchoice,cultural their worthisanentirelydifferentandmorecomplex of credit cardandyoucanbuyanyofthem.Butthequestion and services.Pickupthephone,makeacall,getoutyour of amoviestar?Itiseasytodiscoverthecostthesegoods surgery requiredtoturnablobofnoseintoprofileworthy “Houses inMadisonwerenotcheap.ButIwantedone. Those aresomeofthequestionsthatmetalsmithLisa engagementringorthecosmetic violin? Whatisthevalueofabrandname hat isthevalueofarareeighteenth-century the economic implications of owning gold. the economicimplicationsofowninggold. that itoccurredtoherconsider buy ahouseinMadison,Wisconsin, until 2002whenshedecidedto and artprofessor.Butitwasnot L a , jewelrymaker a goldsmith,jewelrymaker career workingwithgoldas isa Gralnickhasspenther

versus therealthing.” the historyofideaimage image-making ingeneral,and interested inthehistoryof with value.Ialsobecamevery objects becomesupercharged I wasinterestedinhowcertain happening. Atthesametime, my mind,Ididnotsee seriousness ofintentthat,in and rarityofgoldwithacertain that addressedthepreciousness “And Iwantedtodosomething radar atthatpoint,”shestates. financing methods. through moreconventional Photographs byGeorgeErml. ofblackacrylicandgold; 1.2x8.9centimeters,1989. gold mechanism;8.9xcentimeters, 1988. ofblackacrylicwithhidden fourteenkarat LISA GRALNICK.PhotographbyStaceyWebber. purely economicterms.Thegoldincludedineachplastercast of eachsculptureexplaintheratiogoldtoplasterin of theStarbuckscoffeebagsaregold.Descriptionsatbase A cornerofthebookisgold.Theclosuretabsonacouple portion ofeachisgold.Thebowstringstheviolinare anti-depressant. Eachplastercastislife-sizedandasmall a bathroomsink,aniMaccomputer,vialsofprescription of shoes,adozenlong-stemmedroses,pilelightbulbs, bags ofcoffeebeans,abook,violin,vacuumcleaner,pair plaster facsimilesofsucheverydayobjectsasacellphone, beacons. Acloserlookrevealsthattheroomisfullofwhite pristine white,sparebackdropsforgoldobjetsthatlurelike Cartier withoutthesleeksalesstaff.Thewallsanddisplaysare its eternalandunspoilablebeautythereasonwerevereitso? disintegrate andremainsbeautifulalluringforever.Is or peopleforthatmatter,golddoesnottarnish, culture inthehistoryofhumankind.Unlikeothermetals, on thenatureofgolditself,amaterialprizedbyvirtuallyevery compelling history.Finally,theexhibitionisameditation emotionally seductivepatinawhentheycomewrappedina such asgold,areburnishedtoanevenmoreglitteringand “So goldwasverymuchonmy The firstgalleryfeelslikeahigh-endjewelrystore— m All GoldStandardphotographsby g d e

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6/21/10 4:58 PM

45 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010 marble figures sculpted in ancient Greece were meant to represent idealized humans or gods. But the plaster and gold pieces also are graphic displays of the intersection of human desire and our market economy. A cast of a woman’s face with a nose covered in gold is about the cost of rhinoplasty, or a “partial nose augmentation,” as the display helpfully informs us. The surgery costs sixteen hundred dollars, which rendered Gralnick 5.18 ounces of eighteen karat gold to use for the nose. It is an expensive procedure, but a new nose justifies the cost, right? Beauty is important. An even more telling critique of today’s status and style- conscious society is Gralnick’s representation of a Tiffany & Co. classic engagement . A Tiffany engagement THE GOLD STANDARD PART I: #10 MAC G4 of plaster, gold and ring with a .25 diamond actually sells for more than its acrylic, 2005. weight in gold—the only object in the show more valuable than gold. The twenty-five hundred dollar cost of the ring represents the amount of gold Gralnick bought for the cost translated into 7.86 ounces of gold. Even after Gralnick made of the item. So, the point seems to be, gold is worth considerably the oversized Tiffany ring, which is about two inches in more than even a two-hundred-year-old, concert-caliber diameter, she had enough gold left over to add a four-foot- violin. Or is it? long gold chain. The chain turns the ring into a that This first section of The Gold Standard is arresting. would dangle the ring down below the wearer’s waist. The The white plaster casts have a dreamy, otherworldly quality. Tiffany name and the status it confers are, economically Though Gralnick has scrupulously made the casts from speaking, literally worth more than gold. And the absurdly original forms—she cast her own violin, for instance, and puffed-up size of the ring is itself a not-so-sly commentary on used real Starbuck’s coffee bags—the highly detailed plasters status jewelry. If the point of status, brand-name jewelry is to nevertheless seem to represent universals, almost as idealized show off your taste and money, then bigger is certainly better.

Trained as a metalsmith at Kent State University and State University of New York, New Paltz, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in 1980, Gralnick has always been an unusual combination of traditional artisan and conceptual artist. Among her early influences she singles out the Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, known for his performance art and site-specific installations mixing industrial and precious materials to make statements about politics and society. But she is also well grounded in metalsmithing, having honed her technical skills at New Paltz with the distinguished metal artists Kurt Matzdorf and Robert Ebendorf. Her master’s thesis was on the role of art in society now that religious institutions no longer have the power to proscribe the parameters of art. “In graduate school I was already interested in blending my metals work with what had always been an interest in scholarly endeavors. I liked the idea of work making an argument in some way. I didn’t want to just make pretty things.” Her early professional work included enamels since she had studied with Mel Someroski, an enamels artist, at Kent State. “But I wasn’t happy with the idea that people were interested in them primarily because of their preciousness and beauty.” Partly as a

BROOCH of black acrylic; 17.8 x 10.2 x 3.8 centimeters, 1988. Photograph by

46 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010 George Erml.

33_4_LisaGralnick4.PBL.captions.JD.CB.indd 46 6/21/10 4:58 PM The Tiffany ring/pendant is one of only four pieces in the exhibition that could be worn as jewelry. Though Gralnick holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in metalsmithing, her work has always veered toward sculpture and conceptual art. Her interest in our perceptions about precious materials and precious objects has inspired her in the past to work in such non-precious materials as black acrylic. She has also made jewelry that resembles highly polished machine parts with movable appendages and jewelry made entirely of gold. Though such pieces from the 1980s and 1990s could be worn as jewelry, in spirit and design they were more minimalist sculpture than jewelry. In the second part of the exhibition Gralnick shows us the ghosts of gold jewelry, gold medals and gold bric-a-brac she melted down to recycle into objects displayed later in the show. Again Gralnick used plaster to cast the items, which were small and intricate. Included are bits of chains, crosses and religious charms, gold hairpins, single , and military medals. She obtained the pieces by placing online advertisements and putting up posters. She offered to buy any gold item for the price of its weight in gold—in other words for its value as a commodity. But Gralnick also asked why each piece was being sold and includes that information with the plaster casts. One woman sold gold chains given to her by THE GOLD STANDARD PART I: #11 TIFFANY RING of gold, acrylic; an abusive ex-husband. Other gold pieces were simply tucked 5.1 x 101.6 x 40.6 centimeters, 2005. away in the backs of drawers, their sentimental or historical

reaction to conventional beauty, Gralnick a few years later became fascinated by a black rubber-clad modernist house in the Hudson Valley. Soon she was making jewelry out of black acrylic. “The black work was very stark. Often the finish was quite BEAUTY AND THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY of sterling , matte, which made it difficult to recognize as because eighteen karat gold, acrylic it was not reflective. It appeared more like stone or , and blue water; 16.5 x 3.8 although it was very lightweight. Most people could not identify centimeters, 1998. Detail of the material, and I enjoyed that anonymity.” opened hinged door, with Gralnick also became interested in mechanical pieces with water visible. Photographs by Karen Bell. parts that moved. Though wearable as , they looked like elegant, polished machine parts. “I’m a big collector of stuff. I like antique medical instruments, nautical instruments, things that work and do work. I began studying physics and taking apart mechanical things to see how they worked. I’d look at the ratchet systems in old fishing reels.” Gralnick’s intellectual curiosity prevents her from sticking with any one style or material for more than a few years. And in the early 1990s, during a summer fellowship and residency at the Oregon School of Arts, she was again making sculptures 47 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010

33_4_LisaGralnick4.PBL.captions.JD.CB.indd 47 6/21/10 4:58 PM meanings long forgotten. Though an ounce of gold metal may forever be recycled and reused, the nostalgia that people attach to that ounce of gold is fleeting. The metal remains long after the meaning of the piece is gone. If the intellectual questions plumbed in the first two parts of The Gold Standard leave you a bit dizzy, the final section is pure beauty and substance. Or so it seems. Mounted on walls and documented with handwritten cards by unknown curators are such glamorous curiosities as a coin collection in which the faces of the coins have become decorative gouache discs; a gold described as part of the treasure excavated from Troy; a gold medical implement of mysterious provenance; a military brooch made by a Jewish metalsmith for a Nazi military commander; a Victorian chastity belt; and an exquisite collection of tiny rings. If you had stumbled across this section of the exhibition on its own, you might believe the information carefully written in a neat hand on each curator’s card. The histories of these “artifacts” sound real, but they are fantasy. Gralnick made them up just as she also created the faux artifacts. Yet so strong is the allure of Gralnick’s brief narratives that even once you have wised up to the game, you remain enthralled. The gold military brooch, for instance, claims to be from 1940. The curator’s card attributes it to a female Polish THE GOLD STANDARD PART I: #12 DOZEN ROSES of plaster, gold and goldsmith forced to make the handsome brooch for the Nazi acrylic; 71.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 centimeters, 2009. commander of Auschwitz. The goldsmith was later executed,

of gold, this time mixing them with materials including blood and sugar. She describes those pieces as “highly personal.” Later she made a group of reliquary . “I have a history of going from very stark intellectual GRAND ILLUSION of sterling works into very poetic pieces. It’s like two sides of me that silver, eighteen karat gold, hair, need to be fed. After the reliquaries I went back to folding fingernails, ash and acrylic; 3.8 x 3.8 x 3.8 centimeters, gold into a very pristine, mathematical body of work.” 1994. Shown closed and open. Gralnick grew up in New York and as a child she was Photographs by Karen Bell. interested in music, math and art. She was a serious violin student and music lessons and violin practice left her no time for art classes in school. But her parents sent her one summer to an art program at the Rhode Island School of Design and in high school she and her father, a dentist, took a Saturday afternoon jewelry class together. “After that I knew I wanted to go to college for jewelry,” Gralnick says. In the 1980s Gralnick was a working artist selling her jewelry at galleries and art fairs, though she also took part-time and short term teaching positions. Starting in 1991 she taught for a decade at Parsons School of Design, then in 2001 began teaching at the University of Wisconsin. She has received numerous grants and awards, including several National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the 48 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010

33_4_LisaGralnick4.PBL.captions.JD.CB.indd 48 6/21/10 4:58 PM according to the card. The brooch looks like a commemoration creates. But in a way that Gralnick for a hero, until you observe that its edges seem to be made could not have imagined when she of human teeth dipped in gold and that it includes the phrase began this work in the booming “work sets you free,” the infamous slogan posted above the economy of 2003, the show is also entrance to Auschwitz. The piece turns ghoulish and terrifying. remarkably timely. The world’s Even though it is not real—meaning that it is not what it major economies are fragile. There claims to be on the card—the beautifully crafted brooch with is a lack of confidence in national its made-up history is profoundly moving. and international financial institutions. A delightful piece in the final section is Fourteen Unusually As a result, the price of gold has soared Small Rings. The display in its elegant vitrine suggests an to more than twelve hundred dollars an Alice Through the Looking image of a Thumbelina-sized ounce, about three times the price princess opening her jewelry chest to select which brilliant Gralnick was paying when she started little gold ring to wear today. The rings, which look like they the work. More than ever it is an might fit an infant, are gorgeous with their faceted excellent time to consider what is and petite settings of and enamel. But here the curator’s valuable, and why. card explains that these rings were made by an early eighteenth-century Parisian jeweler whose well-heeled The Gold Standard travels to the Houston Center for customers included Paris’s most famous society women. Contemporary Craft, January 22 to May 22, 2011. It was organized by Bellevue Arts Museum, curated by The rings are a delicious reference to a famous murder story Nora Atkinson of BAM, and sponsored by The Rotasa by E.T.A. Hoffmann, an eighteenth-century German author Foundation, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Art Jewelry Forum. of horror and fantasy. But even without knowing the novella, the exquisite rings hint at fairy tales and magic in some world that is decidedly not our own. There are many reasons to admire The Gold Standard, not THE GOLD STANDARD PART III: MILITARY BROOCH, the least of which is the pure pleasure of experiencing 1940 of recycled gold, and fragments of Gralnick’s skillful craftsmanship and the beautiful objects she gold chain; 45.7 x 33.0 x 5.1 centimeters, 2007.

Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Although her latest work is mostly not wearable, Gralnick says, “I have not abandoned wearable jewelry. I have just recently become more interested in the historical significance of gold and jewelry than its wearablity. But I have no doubt that I will return to jewelry again.” Gralnick says she never regrets her decision to become a metalsmith. “I have a propensity for mathematics, but I also wanted to go into a creative field. Metalsmithing really requires a lot of logical thinking—which is always something I’m telling my students. You have to think about ten steps ahead, but of course the process is also highly creative. So metalsmithing was the perfect merger of those two sides of my personality.”

SUGGESTED READING Drutt English, Helen and Peter Dormer. Jewelry of our Time: Art, Ornament and Obsession . New York: Rizzoli, 1995. Gralnick, L. “Thickening the Edge: Holloware in an Age of Pluralism,” Metalsmith, Vol 21, No. 4 (Exhibition in Print, 2001): 8-13. Kuhn, Roger. “The Jewelry Art of Lisa Gralnick,” Metalsmith, Vol. 12, No. 3 BROOCH of eighteen karat gold; 7.6 x 1.2 centimeters, 2002. (Summer 1992): 14-19. Photograph by Lisa Gralnick. Tamulevich, Susan. “Lisa Gralnick: Jewelerswerk Galerie,” American Craft, Vol 54, No. 6 (December/January 1994/95): 68-69. Turner, Ralph. Jewelry in Europe and America: New Times, New Thinking. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996. 49 ORNAMENT 33.4.2010

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