Daniel Kruger. Zwischen Natur und Künstlichkeit - Schmuck 1974 bis 2014

Date: 
Thursday, 9. July 2015 - 0:00 to Sunday, 27. September 2015 - 0:00
Daniel Kruger. Halsschmuck. Silber-Filigran, Acrylglas, Pigment. 2013.1 Foto: Udo W. Beier

Hardly any other jewelry artist has repeatedly found his way so freely and unencumbered to new pictorial worlds of a very personal nature as Daniel Kruger (b. 1951), professor at the famous Burg Giebichenstein college in Halle.

Following the exhibitions in Leipzig and Pforzheim, the German Goldsmiths’ House in Hanau will present a retrospective encompassing nearly 200 examples of Daniel Kruger’s work. The artist studied goldsmiths’ art, graphic design, and painting in South Africa; in Munich, he studied under Professor Hermann Jünger and graduated with a degree from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste. Kruger’s works are represented worldwide in museums and galleries. For many years, he has taught at the most important educational facilities in both Germany and abroad.

Kruger often refers to elements of folk art from his South African homeland, but he also utilizes found items of various materials or quotes historical forms and ornamentation. His artistic inventiveness, the unusual combinations of materials, as well as his reinterpretations of craft techniques repeatedly give his jewelry works fascinating new perspectives. Frequently, the jewelry pieces are enlivened by a very special magnificence which is anchored in the here and now. The diversity of the materials, the charming play of color, the textural experience, and the aesthetic pleasure play an important role for Daniel Kruger, “The ‘how’ and ‘why’ don’t interest me. It’s the article itself that fascinates me.”