SCULPTURE TO WEAR

FROM THE 

LOUISA GUINNESS GALLERY LONDON

COMING TO SOTHEBY'S EAST HAMPTON

AUGUST 3rd - 28th 

including works by 

Alexander Calder    Max Ernst    Claude Lalanne    César  

Man Ray      Jeff Koons      Anish Kapoor  

Niki de Saint Phalle          Sophia Vari

William Turnbull    and more

Sculpture to Wear will be shown in East Hampton August 3 - 28th at Sotheby's selling gallery at 66 Newtown Lane; more than 80 works by artists including Ron Arad, Pol Bury, Alexander Calder, César, William Copley, Niki de Saint Phalle, Michael Craig-Martin, Max Ernst, Lucio Fontana, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Claude Lalanne, Mariko Mori, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Gio Pomodoro, Marc Quinn, Man Ray, Christopher Thompson Royds, Ed Ruscha, Conrad Shawcross, Cora Sheibani, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Jesús Rafael Soto, Gavin Turk, William Turnbull, Rob Wynne, and Sophia Vari.

The project is a collaboration between Louisa Guinness, Louisa Guinness Gallery, London, and Tiffany Dubin of Sotheby's, New York, who added, "It is an honor to partner with Louisa Guinness on this selling exhibit. Louisa is a pioneer in artist jewelry, having established it as a field in its right, beginning with her 2003 London landmark exhibition Past and Present: Jewelry by 20th Century Artists. Collecting pieces by 20th-century masters and collaborating with contemporary artists, Louisa recognized that artists, especially sculptors, understood three dimensions and had a special facility for designing wearable pieces. They bring a fresh approach to materials and techniques while creating more intimate and often very different versions of their signature artworks."  These works challenge and expand traditional ways of wearing and seeing jewelry. The collectors who choose these pieces have a thoughtful relationship to the objects they acquire and a real personal appreciation when they wear them." 

"Some people would like a Picasso on their walls," offers Ms. Guinness, “others prefer to wear one. Works by artists are scarce.  The majority of pieces that exist are owned by just a few people and are buried deep in their private possessions.  Often, the items have been received as personal gifts, or inherited from family members."

Man Ray's Le Trou, a ring, was designed to change the wearer's perceptions of their surroundings, keeping with the surrealists' goal of altering everyday reality.  Alexander Calder's one-of-a-kind Brass Brooch from 1940 is any collector's prize.  Jeff Koon's platinum Rabbit pendant has a chameleon quality, a symbol of Resurrection and Easter or a sign of Playboy, or something else.  It invites multiple interpretations, also standing alone as a strong small sculpture.

"The discerning collector understands that they can own a masterpiece created at a human scale." offers Ms. Dubin. "Claude Lalanne's has always been a favorite; Venezuelan Op and Kinetic artist Jesús Rafael Soto's works are magnificent; British Contemporary artist Christopher Thompson Roys is another standout. The Water Rings by artist Anish Kapoor are any woman's dream (I'll take mine in 18k white gold with a pink enameled interior), and Rob Wynne's Octopus ring would set my summer on the right path. Amongst all these marvelous pieces, my dream work is Man Ray's Les Amoureux 18k gold with a removable pendant that detaches as a brooch, c 1970 inspired by his 1936 painting The Lovers.

“These pieces are signed and are either one-of-a-kind or limited edition” says Ms. Guinness, “they can be worn AND exhibited as a piece of art. Each piece comes with its display support—keeping such jewelry in a drawer when not worn would be an absolute waste of art; why not enjoy it as a decorative piece?"

This project with Louisa Guinness follows Tiffany Dubin's successful Sotheby's Pop Up in Palm Beach with James de Givenchy's Taffin Collection. Upcoming projects include a second Pop Up in Palm Beach right after Thanksgiving, a Pop Up in New York for the fall, continuing in London and Taipei, all celebrating unique jewelry artists working in Wearable Art, and through an international lens.

About LOUISA GUINNESS / Louisa Guinness Gallery Owner & Artistic Director:

Following her passion for design, art, and production, Louisa started a business in 2003 in the little-known area of ‘Jewelry Made By Artists.' She emphatically resisted being engulfed by the existing world of jewelry design, discovering that many of her favorite 20th-century artists had made jewelry, and thus started collecting these works.

Over the past fifteen years, Louisa has collaborated with 25 contemporary painters and sculptors to make jewelry an intriguing extension of their artistic practice.  She is a pioneer in this arena, instrumental in developing her role and relationships to successfully position artists' jewelry as a standalone market in the art world and publishing a unique book on this subject, Art As Jewelry: From Calder to Kapoor (ACC Art Books, 2017).

Born and raised in Dublin, Louisa Guinness moved to London in her 20s. She spent 15 years in the finance sector in Hong Kong, New York, and San Francisco. On returning to the U.K. in 2000, she met her future husband, Ben Brown, a well-known and respected contemporary art Gallerist. Their interests intersected; Louisa started to shift directions to embrace a personal passion which she pursues on an international level: Contemporary Artist Jewelry. In collaborations with artists she has embraced every step of the process, becoming deeply involved in the conception and creation of each piece of wearable art.

About TIFFANY DUBIN / Sotheby's Senior Business Development Executive:  

Tiffany Dubin is an advisor to Sotheby's top 500 clients, accompanying them through all aspects of auctions and private sales. Her unique expertise lies at the intersection of art, fashion, and jewelry.

She served as the founding director of Sotheby's fashion department, staging major auctions devoted to twentieth-century design and fashion—multi-media explorations of couture, ready-to-wear, photography, illustration, and a range of accessories.

In addition to her work with Sotheby's, she worked as an associate curator for the U.S. State Department's Art in Embassy Program. She co-authored the book Vintage Style (Harper Collins, 2000). From 2001 to 2004, she had her boutique emporium for handmade objects and unique design pieces at Henri Bendel's in New York City — Tiffany's Lair.  Tiffany Dubin studied international relations at Georgetown and Decorative Arts at N.Y.U.