Exhibition concept: Biserka Jakšić, Vjeročka Rukavina
Exhibition design: Željko Kovačić
This exhibition is the result of goldsmith Biserka Jakšić's thinking about jewellery through which she wishes the observer in turn to give it some consideration. It shows various approaches to the topic.
We all live and work in a certain milieu, one that provides our cultural ground. Apart from that, we all have our roots in our family, and just as somebody might inherit a care for decoration, for adornment, so Biserka Jakšić has come into the art of the making of jewellery from her father, master goldsmith Božidar Jakšić, whose work was directed towards building on to the traditional approach to the art of the goldsmith.
In order to build on, it is necessary to master the goldsmith's techniques; but once they are mastered, one has the right to seek one's own expression. And so goldsmith Biserka Jakšić started off in the craft, the results being visible in one of the cases – the viewer will find the case very recognisable, be reminded of the rings and earrings of his grandmother. But then, a client has the need, alongside his or her grandmother's and mother's jewellery, to have some items of jewellery of his or her own, to give expression both to the time and to the person. For this very reason, goldsmith Biserka Jakšić has felt the need to manifest the goldsmith's art and technique in a new, open and personal way.
The medium she expresses herself in is a jewellery; the wish to record some moment, some thought, some feeling, whether her own or a client's, is an essential part of the creation of any item of jewellery. Naturally, she can allow herself far greater freedom when it is a personal inspiration at work, because it is a wonderful feeling to give shape on paper in the form of drawing, to the way the client's words are felt and even more so when it develops into material form, into a piece of jewellery that will grace, for example, a client's hand and offer itself to the sight of other persons who hear the words as they look.
Every individual item of jewellery is an idea for itself. But this does not always have to be the case. From this kind of thinking, i.e. that it is possible to decorate several parts of the body with jewellery founded on a single idea, came the jewellery set. The simple wish to replace a jumble of ideas with just one.
Apart from the personal stimulus or words of the client, ideas are born during the making of the jewellery, and in one showcase Biserka Jakšić has demonstrated this, proving that the making process itself can be very stimulating from a creative point of view. Of course, jewellery can be approached through the idea of a topic, like for example sport, as an inspiration for creation where the experiences of another world can be expressed through jewellery. All this talks of the necessity to approach jewellery as a subject of education, because we have to teach others and transfer our knowledge.
The approaches shown are interwoven and give an integrated image, just as melodies are linked in such a way as to harmonise when they are performed at once. This is the reason for the exhibition's being called Counterpoint.
Vjeročka Rukavina
