2011-03-02

Untitled ring

I visited a solo exhibition by an established jewelry-artist, who has been working in the field for over 50 years, showing 70 rings from the last decade. Although the artist insists they are all untitled, some rings have a story or characteristic to name them by. That name may refer to their shape (the Padua-ring has the shape of a building in Padua, the Aquarius-ring is partly blue and has the shape of a fin), or their material (the Edinburgh-ring is made from a very special stone bought from a museum in Edinburgh!), and they are all made with an obvious dedication to perfection. But what is most striking about the rings: they all show a great playfulness and joy of working! All 70 of them! This made me excited to be there, and it also made it very hard to choose one to show you.


This ring was a favorite from the start. It is made from red corian (a hard to get color) making it stand out. The upright-rectangular shape fits with the other 70 rings. It has been cut around the edges to give it a sculptural feel. It has different size holes in it showing off the playfulness. One of the holes is used to perfectly combine the two pieces of the ring. This allows the wearer to fully extend the playfulness it already expresses! What more could you possibly want? (I know what I want and my birthday is coming up…)

The exhibition ‘Fritz Maierhofer (yes, that is the established jewelry-artist): 70 rings’ at Caroline Van Hoek Gallery runs until the 24th of April in Brussels, Belgium.

Both Fritz Maierhofer and Caroline Van Hoek Gallery are members of Klimt02.