What do you think when you hear “Spain”? The breeze of the warm sea and sand on the bare feet on the beach? Stones, full of life and music, touched by the hand of Gaudi? Mountains and forests, art and design, siesta and ancient cities sparkling in the sun? For me it has always been something very sentimental and very tactile, full of smells and sounds. I have been collecting and admiring spanish jewellers for many years since my first visit to Joya Barcelona. That is why when Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h presented a new exhibition “Coordenadas : Jewels from Catalonia” I could not wait a day and went to the opening, on June 8th.
Yes, yes, it is definitely worth going. And I am talking not about a quick visit simply to scan the space with eyes, to put a “check” in the plan and hurry to do other things. No. Dive deeper into the idea (which is simply art), check the catalogue and the pieces, and by looking through the coordinates let your own memories (or fantasies, if you have not been to Spain) fly free to the far away places.
The exhibition is a part of the exchange project between Montreal and Barcelona. Young contemporary jewellery artists of both countries had a chance to present their works on the other continent. The group from Barcelona, Joyas Sensacionales, was created by a reknown artist Silvia Walz in 2008. They are nowadays active in numerous projects and exhibitions. The latest, Siete Coordenadas, has been presented in Munich in March 2017. The Joyas Sensacionales group is nowadays composed of 12 artists : Alicia Giráldez, Carla Garcia, Carme Roher, Clara Niubó, Fátima Tocornal, Gemma Canal, Lourdes Carmelo, Montse Basora, Nicole Deuster, Nuria Anguren and Xus Anglès, accompanied by Silvia Walz and Ramon Puig Cuyàs.
Have I already said that the whole idea of the exhibition is art? Each and everyone of the group picked a place they particularly liked or that was truly inspiring to them and provided to another member of the group the GPS coordinates of the place. The latter was free to visit it, to work with a photograph or to reflect on the emotions felt in situ. They could be places from infancy or childhood, an abandoned site, a museum… Then, the two jewellers – the one who provided the coordinates and the one who received them – would work and produce an unique piece. One coordinate therefore inspired two pieces of jewellery, both reflective of two different points of view and two personal “readings” of the same place. It is amazing, how differently two people may see the very same place!
The catalogue is made very nicely and will guide you thoroughly through the whole process.
At the exhibition I realized that I already have a brooch by one of the artists! This one.
