THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED IN THE 21ST EDITION OF AINAS MAGAZINE (pp 40-43)
Homo Ludens*
Rarely does one come across a form of art that has not often been made before. Koen Jacobs has something new: wearable marionettes, jewellery as moveable sculptures on their own.
Jacobs is a professional gold- and silversmith (International Silver-Gold-Smithery school, Schoonhoven/NL and Alchimia, School of Contemporary Jewellery, Florence/IT) as well as an alumnus of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. His final academy project was based on his fascination with ‘jewellery as bearer of memory’. Jacobs’s passion for exotic wild animals originated in Brazil, where he had lived with his family. He based his work on his own childhood drawings and experimented with these to evoke memories.
The artist summons a child’s original, open-minded, playful and innocent view on the world: a realm where the border between reality and fantasy is fuzzy. The source of inspiration is immediately recognizable in his work, yet he developed his very own imagery. The drawings are formed from silver wire to become spatial, then fixed loosely. They are indeed moveable skeletons. Memories fade away and change over time, one can also see growth reflected on the skeletons. Minerals and semiprecious stones, miniature shells (which he initially collected and cleaned himself) are mounted on the frameworks. The sketches came alive gradually, but the true revival is the moment when they are worn and move together with the wearer.
The artist’s main challenge was reinventing the way the drawings are perceived, to find their essence. To create a blissfully playful state when one is inclined to touch and move them, to bring them alive. Once you wear such an animal skeleton, you wear memories of a life that has been. You also happen to play with the idea of having your own imaginary pet.
The metamorphosis of something motionless into a moving, relatable and ‘living’ creature is of course the essence of (marionette) play.
During an exhibition, if people discover one of these wearable puppets, they often cannot help but start playing with them. There is a field of tension there. The fantasy of the spectator works with them already, one must see how they move in reality. They must come alive. Your creative childhood curiosity is revived.
To wear a marionette is another process altogether, an intimate occasion. As people tend to touch these pieces, they come into one’s personal space. These wearable sculptures evoke fascination and wonderment, they are inclined to be treated as living creatures.
For an artist, it is a great thing to see a work come alive the way you thought it would. In this case, the practicality of it all stays important, and that is when Jacobs’s background as a silversmith comes in. At the academy he learned how to think unprejudiced and begin with a concept to make sculptural work, in his case in the form of jewellery with the quality and refinement of a goldsmith. He produces pieces that are true amalgamations of craft and art.
written by Anikó Ouweneel-Tóth
* The title, Homo Ludens (‘man playing’), comes from cultural historian Johan Huizinga, who attempted to define and describe play in relation to culture.
Images:
Artist Koen Jacobs wearing his Camaleão (l) shoulder piece, 2017. Silver, silicium carbide, fimo, rhinestones. 18 x 8 x 30 cm. Photo by Gerard J. Oltmans for Apeldoorn Direct
Koen Jacobs Tucano, 2017. Wearable marionette. Silver, paint, soil, seeds. 55 x 12,5 x 22 cm
Photo by the Rietveld Academy
Koen Jacobs Arara, 2018. Wearable marionette. Silver, Azurite, Citrine, pigment, beads. 59 x 13 x 19 cm. Photo by Koen Jacobs
Koen Jacobs Flor de Medusa (l), 2018. Wearable marionette. Silver, resin, sand, shells, black pearl. 11 x 10 x 54 cm. Photo by Koen Jacobs