Jewelry exhibited at Sterke Verhalen (Grand Stories) prompts viewers to think that bizarre works of eight Dutch oddballs are on display.
Curator of jewelry exhibition Liesbeth den Besten said that Dutch jewelry is linked to nonconformist ideas because of freedom available to artist in choosing materials.
Dozens of pieces on display at Erasmus Huis demonstrates this freedom. Apart from the conventional materials like silver, gold, gems and pearls, the artists have used zinc, rubber bands, cotton and plexi-glass.
Some artists have used gold and precious gems in such a way that they do not look like precious sapphires or diamonds. Curator said, works of eight artists were chosen because they related stories about their works.
Iris Eichenberg, Lucy Sarneel, Robert Smit and Truike Verdegaal are in first group; that is memory, dream, fantasy. Gijs Bakker, Dinie Besems, Ted Noten and Manon van Kouswijk are in material, temptation and traditional group.
Robert Smit created jewelry with a dog named Bello and his sister. In the brooch, Bello Seated, Smit has arranged gold leaves to resemble a sitting dog.
Dinie Besems's necklace, Names, gives an impression of a classical jewel with a medallion having a universal quality.
The jewelry was exhibited in the Netherlands at Stedelijk Museum, Hertogenbosch, from January 15 through February 25, 2006.
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