red dot pin, Otto Künzli

Exhibition Label:
“Holding Pattern: New Works at the Spencer Museum,” Sep-2014, Susan Earle and Cassandra Mesick
Born in Switzerland and trained as a goldsmith in Munich, Germany, Otto Künzli has revolutionized modern jewelry art. He is well known for his use of social commentary and his unique approach to jewelry-making. The artist stated: “In 1976 I was looking for fresh and uncommon ideas for jewelry as a new starting point in my work. I went several times to an instant photo booth and decorated my chest with steel wire, string, paper sheets, tapes, and paper dots. I was mainly interested in geometric shapes- dots, straight, curved or bent lines, circles, triangles, and squares, in both their two- and three-dimensional versions.” This work, red dot pin, is also a humorous commentary on the red dot that marks a work of art as sold when it is displayed in a commercial gallery.