Assignment 2

[Joanne]

To create something truly memorable, I believe there should be a degree of shock, impossibility and controversy.
My father, Andrew Grima did just that in all his jewellery creations until his death last December.
I was tempted to find a photographer I admired as it would have been more suitable for the subject I am studying. However, I preferred to opt for a subject I understand, an artist I knew very well and admire more than any other.
My father was seen by many connoisseurs as the doyen of modern jewellery design. Each piece he created was unique, avant-garde, and although no two pieces were alike, they were all recognisable as being a Grima piece.
His jewellery was seen as works of art, sculpture more than simple adornment for the rich and famous. He was admired by many but not by all. His pieces were large, daring, unusual, and those used to conservative flower brooches, sometimes were converted as they finally understood there was more to jewellery than big diamonds as representation of their wealth.

My father was inspired both by nature and organic things and abstract art and sculpture. His pieces are all three dimensional, never flat and bland. It is for that reason, that I think having his work as inspiration for my photography is not all that far off track. I would like my work to be timeless, controversial and my own.

For the last few years, I have been the photographer for our website (http://www.grimajewellery.com), and this lead me to want to learn more about the art of capturing these beautiful jewels and bring them to life, which I do not think I have managed to do so far. The pictures are probably ok, but I do not think they portray the true, pure beauty and dimension of the pieces.

This is an image of two watches my father designed for Omega in 1970. The left one is called “Gondola” for obvious reasons, and features the beauty of his simple designs. The right one is called “Cerini” after the small wax matches they used to sell in Italy. This watch is a good representation of his very intricate work. When given this project, the goldsmith said it was impossible to realise it in gold, but my father urged him to find a way.

Below is another of my favourite designs, a watch ring which belonged to Ursula Andress. Yet again a completely different style but so typically my father’s work, with a more architectural style.

I hope that in this short introduction to an artist’s work, I have managed to portray my own ideas of style in photography. I look forward to your comments.

[Duncan Rawlinson]

What a pleasant and inspiring story. The pictures of the jewellery is spectacular. From a composition standpoint be careful about the shadows that the jewellery casts. It often creates an object in itself. So you either want to try and soften the shadow a bit or include the whole shadow in the frame.

The photo of the watch has caught my eye in a big way. It’s absolutely stunning.

You mentioned at the beginning of your short essay that that art should have a certain degree of “shock”.

There has been media attention around this artist who is getting in major exhibitions and selling his work for millions of dollars. For those of you into shock art, you might want to check this out.. The artists name is Terence Koh and he specializes in photography, installation art and paintings.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/terence_koh.htm

[Joanne]

Thank you. Actually I should have mentioned that the photographs I posted on my assignment are not my own. I simply used them to portray some of the designs. Most of the photographs on the website I mentioned are however mine.

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