RUUDT PETERS
RUUDT PETERS
THE SOURCE
A retrospective of the works of visual artist and jewellery designer Ruudt Peters in the exhibition BRON (Source). BRON gives an overview of Peters’ rebellious jewellery from the early seventies to the more profound works based on the exploration of other cultures, customs and habits from a more recent period. His work is exhibited in a special multimedia installation that offers a unique view on his oeuvre.
Curiosity about the essence and mystery of human existence forms the foundation of Peters' work. He continuously researches other cultures, philosophies, religions and materials. He observes, explores and interprets. His findings are the basis on which he creates jewellery and objects that are never literal translations of what he sees, but materialisations and internalisations of his own thoughts and imagination. Peters' main questions are focussed on religion, philosophy and alchemy and how they relate to him. He manages to turn these questions into art with a highly recognisable visual idiom. Peters: “All my jewellery is interconnected and springs from a flowing process of events and various sources of inspiration. Cause and effect. Action-reaction. Falling down and getting up. Uncertainty. Discovery. Curiosity. This together forms the BRON exhibition – one that does not only offer an overview of my work but also explores my sources of inspiration. In addition, short films, which can be called up through QR codes, enable the spectator to discover a deeper layer in my work.”
Because Peters did not feel at home in the highly dogmatic climate that characterised his craft during the seventies, he switched from jewellery to sculpture. It is no coincidence, then, that Peters has been exhibiting his work in installation forms since the nineties. At the time, he was one of the first jewellery artists who considered jewellery and the way it is presented to be of equal importance. Thus Peters presents his jewellery to the spectator in a logical and stimulating context. With his much-discussed and striking installation presentations, he did not only make the installation form part of his idiosyncratic signature; he also shows how important the actual surroundings and context are for jewellery as sculpture.
Ruudt Peters' work can be seen and experienced in Legnica Culture Centre from 1 May 2018 to 10 June 2018 in the exhibition BRON within the framework of Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER 2018. The presentation is a spectacular arrangement of glass capsules, films and bubbling springs that invite the spectators to discover Peters' world.
Ruudt Peters – born in 1950, a visual artist and jewellery designer, graduate of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 1973 he founded Galerie Ekster in Leeuwarden with Julius Wijffels. Next to jewellery and sculpture, Peters works on various projects in public spaces. Examples are the fountain in front of the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center in Den Bosch and the projects he worked on in public places in Amsterdam. He received the Herbert Hofmann Preis in 2004 and was awarded the Françoise van den Bosch Prijs for his entire oeuvre in 2012. Peters taught at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Kampen, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, Alchimia in Florence and Ädellab Konstfack in Stockholm. His work is included in museum collections in the Netherlands and abroad and is regularly exhibited by Galerie RA Amsterdam, Galerie Marzee Nijmegen, Galerie Spektrum Karlsruhe, Ornamentum Gallery Hudson NY and Galerie Rob Koudijs Amsterdam, to name a few. Peters presented his works at the SILVER Festival in 2015 so BRON is his second show in Legnica. Also, he was twice a juror for the International Jewellery Competition organized within the framework of Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER. BRON exhibition was previously presented at the CODA Museum in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands) and after SILVER Festival it will travel to Tallinn (Estonia) and numerous other places in Europe.
