Swede, Estonian in double-billing art jewelry exhibition in Bangkok

SOLOS: NEVER ODD OR EVEN, Part IV by Tanel Veenre & Märta Mattsson
7 January – 21 February 2015

ATTA Gallery, the only gallery in Thailand specializes in Contemporary Art Jewelry, proudly presents an exhibition by Tanel Veenre from Estonia and Märta Mattsson from Sweden titled “SOLOS: NEVER ODD OR EVEN Part IV”. The exhibition runs from 7 January – 21 February 2015, with the Opening Reception and Meet the Artist Tanel Veenre on Wednesday 7 January 2015 between 18:30-20:00. atta_gallery_s

Tanel Veenre will also be giving a lecture about his work on Thursday 8 January 2015 between 13:30-14:30 in room 603 Department of Decorative Art Building, Silpakorn University, Wang Tha Pra campus. Lecture will be in English with Thai translation. Lecture is open to the public but with limited seating. Please reserve your seat by sending an email to [email protected].

About the Exhibition

“Palindrome” is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of symbols or elements, whose meaning may be interpreted the same way in either forward or reverse direction.

Palindromes like, A NUT FOR A JAR OF TUNA or EVIL RATS ON NO STAR LIVE, might not make so much sense to us but nonetheless they are symmetrical riddles that play with our perception of how we see things. Many believe that symmetrical objects have an inner harmony, and value them for this. In nature, symmetry is approximate. For example, plant leaves, while considered symmetric, rarely match up exactly when folded in half. If there is no such thing as perfect symmetry in nature, can we find perfection in imperfections?

What happens when two artists decide to mirror their own work but also reflect and bounce off each other’s visual language? Will we BORROW OR ROB ideas from one another? Will we feel the need to be the one who MUST SELL AT TALLEST SUM? Will our work end up at the same LEVEL? Or will ‘DAMMIT I’M MAD!’ for doing this pop up in our heads? Our new series of work has been created under an echo of two minds exploring the contradictory meanings of symmetry in nature and life. Mirrors are commonly used for personal grooming or admiring oneself. In the mirror you can see yourself, but not quite… The mirror image is reversed. In a mutual admiration can we create a MEGA GEM? This might get interesting, WON’T IT NOW? Have we hit your RADAR? Come and see this TOP SPOT that is TOO HOT TO HOOT!

‘Many sensible friendships start through the art. I knew Märta’s pieces long before we talked first time, I have been wondering around in her gardens of Paradise. I have been admiring her amazing creatures – mystically self defining, whimsically glittering, proudly speaking about beauty. Märta’s Paradise is not a getaway, her creatures are here – in this very moment – and they speak intensely with the time they are created in. There is a perfume of decay in her garden that is honestly and irresistibly alluring, I have one of her magnificent insect brooches that I would wear with pride once while walking towards sunset. Don`t ask how she makes them, believe me – they are born like this’. Tanel

‘The first time I met Tanel was in Munich in 2011 at his solo exhibition, Paradise regained. At the exhibition I was very drawn to a white necklace that looked like it consisted of two deer hooves. The necklace had such a simple shape but it contained so much emotion. I imagined that it would look like a warm embrace around the body when being worn. I asked Tanel what the piece was made out of and his answer was ‘unicorn legs and cosmic dust’. I became intrigued by this funny and mystical response. Not only was his
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jewellery like little poetic enigmas, he also seemed like a very quirky and unique man. I got the feeling that I really wanted to pick his brain and get to know him better’. Märta

The idea of collaborating and working on a project together arose from this shared admiration for each others work, worlds and minds. We have now begun out journey together and we have decided to work on a set of exhibitions based on Palindromes – symmetry and reflections.

About the Artists

Tanel Veenre

Born in Tallin, Estonia, in 1977, Tanel grew up in a family of artists and musicians. He studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts Jewelry and graduated in 2005 after having taken part in an exchange program with the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Tanel Veenre’s jewels take one on a journey that starts from the depths of the sea, continues on through coral reefs, past dancing sea horses and then on to the cultivation of silkworms. The voyage ends in a cosmic cloud. Currently working as freelance artist, designer for his jewellery brand TVJ and a professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Märta Mattsson

Märta Mattsson has always been able to see and create “beauty” from what others would consider frightening or even repulsive. Today she is considered a rising star in the world of contemporary jewelry. Born in Stockholm, Märta traveled a lot for her studies with experiences in Tokyo, the United States and the Royal College of Art in London. Her jewels, which feature beetles, butterflies and insects with colorful wings, are absolute expressions of her many experiences and her memories of childhood afternoons spent playing with insects and all different types of stuffed animals, and the effect this had on her creative sensibility.

Märta Mattsson got her BA from HDK – School of Design and Crafts Jewelry Art in Gothenburg. During university, she did exchanges in Providence, Rhode Island, and Tokyo where she took courses at the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry. Here her creations were described by classmates as “KimoKawaii”, a combination of the words kawaii (gracious) and kimoi (disgusting). Since 2007, her works have been shown at various trade fairs and during solo shows. In 2012, her “Fossil” collection won the Talent Prize in Munich, which catapulted her to the top of the list of promising young stars in jewelry.

She is fascinated by things that people are scared of but at the same time can’t help staring at. Märta says that her jewels come about out of this tension between attraction and repulsion. Scary insects, beetles, moths and butterflies are lacquered and then trapped in elegant enclosures, cut, glued and adorned with cubic zirconia before being turned into brooches and necklaces, familiar objects that are shining and extraordinary.

Source: ATTA Gallery

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