About the Artists: Jolanta Gazda

I’m fine / Help me

Venue: Ring Gallery, Main Square 12-14
Open: 25.04.-11.06.2023
Opening: 06.05.2023, 18:00
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 12:00 - 18:00

Admission free

'I'm fine / Help me' is a solo exhibition by Jolanta Gazda. The brooches and necklaces presented here result from a reflection on the differences in perception of reality. The artist's narrative jewellery is a starting point for reflection on the duality of the nature of things, the perception of which depends on individual sensitivity, level of empathy, mood of the moment and life experiences of a person. It is therefore a subjective perception. This subjectivity results in differences and curvatures in the interpretation of other people's emotions, behaviour and state of mind. Even of those closest to them. "I'm fine / Help me" is an attempt to draw attention to the overlooked or camouflaged messages concerning anxiety, separation and the desire to escape, which we often do not register and often even do not want to notice. Cries for help, stemming from fear, sadness and a sense of isolation, hidden under the banal statement: "I'm Fine / Help me" is a piece of information that Jolanta Gazda is specifically interested in. The artist dresses her reflections in her own jewellery by combining traditional goldsmithing techniques with knitting forms. A surprising element of the works presented at the exhibition is colour – as a rich palette of colours has appears in Jolanta Gazda's work for the first time.

EXHIBTION CATALOG TO DOWNLOAD:

Social anxiety / Comfort zone brooch, copper, silver, steel, 2023

Jolanta Gazda - born in 1974 in Ryki. She lives and works in Warsaw. She received her education at, among others, Wytwórnia Antidotum in Warsaw. Since 2010 she has been designing author's jewellery. In 2013 she had a solo exhibition at the Designer Gallery in Warsaw. She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 19th Edition of the Artistic Jewellery Competition Presentations 2019, "Prosthetics" at the Museum of Contemporary Jewellery in Warsaw, at Milano Jewelry Week 2019 in Milan, as well as at Joya Barcelona Art Jewellery and Objects in 2019 and Cracow Fashion Square in 2019. In 2014, she was a guest at Debuts at Legnica's Under the Quail’s Basket Gallery with the exhibition 4Women. She is the winner of the Second Grand Prize and a distinction of the Hopea Company in the 14th edition of the Artistic Jewellery Competition "Presentations 2014". - "The Fifth Element - Woman", an honorable mention of the Art Gallery in Legnica in the 19. Edition of the Artistic Jewellery Competition Presentations 2019 "Prosthetics" organised by the Museum of Contemporary Jewellery in Warsaw, an honorable mention of the Open Gallery in the competition 80 x Jewellery (2014), an honorable mention of the company Lange, Łukaszuk and Alco in the competition "Transparency 2013”. Finalist of the competition of the company APART "Jewellery inspired by world cultures" in 2011. Member of the Klimt 02 platform, the Association of Goldsmiths and the 4WOMEN design group (along with Weronika Bachan, Dorota Michalska and Marta Tajwan).

Brooches from the exhibition "I'm fine / Help me"

The title of the exhibition 'I'm Fine / Help Me' shows the drastic dichotomy of the contemporary world in its most individualised perspective - the personal, intimate, individual dimension. A reality in which ‘on the outside’ we expose ourselves according to the rigours of social media scenarios and success culture, while in our inner sanctuary - we struggle with our weaknesses, the difficult truth about ourselves and the "unpowdered" everyday life, where we all too often find ourselves on the edge. Where the thin line sometimes fades, sometimes tightens around our neck, and sometimes shows a salutary direction and leads us to safety.

The collection tries to teach us that just as a jewellery object can contain a mystery, so each of us can hold one within himself/herself.  The field of interpretation is opened up by various aspects of the objects: those designer-, material- or workshop-related, as well as those of conceptual nature, which give jewellery its metaphysical, philosophical and, in this case, also psychological potential.  The unobvious combinations (of metal and crochet, bold colours, open and closed forms, smooth and prickly elements) constitute both an invigorating experiment and a risky transgression, a struggle to preserve oneself, the freedom of the creative act, and development necessary to make the artist’s style unique. In turn, through the controversial juxtaposition of the title slogans, the author brings innovation into the formal sphere of jewellery and into its definition.

Jolanta Gazda's works, following the artist's intention, leave a lot of space for individual interpretations, to which we are directed by suggestive slogans. The key to them, besides a person's sensitivity, sense of aesthetics and taste in jewellery, is their diversity, built on the distinct and unique mental resources that are everyone's personal universe. "I would like the exhibition to be a pretext to reflect on how differently we can perceive and interpret the reality around us, depending on our sensitivity, our level of empathy, the mood of the moment, our life experiences," says the author. In doing so, she opens herself and us up to the commonality of a beyond-aesthetic experience or perceptual 'dissonance', to positive and more difficult emotions, to her own and others' reflections. Is the breaking of ties cowardice or maturity? Does the fear of separation indicate devotion or possessiveness? How far is it from symbiosis to parasitism? And from social phobia to comfort zone? Control or enslavement? Cage or shelter?

This jewellery moves deeply. And just as we wear it on the surface of our bodies, so we can wear it on our 'inside' - its message, the feelings it inspires and the memories or experiences it evokes. Crocheting in metal thus becomes as brave a challenge as it is to let ourselves or someone else discover a mysterious corner of our soul. The use of expressive colours, for the first time present in Gazda's work, may be an attempt to show the spectrum of the viewer's own states and moods. Both experiments require precision, courage and attentiveness on the part of the artist and the viewer. "How often do we misjudge the events, emotions, behaviour or state of mind of the people around? Even of those closest to us? How often do we fail to see, or simply refuse to see, the fear, sadness or even the cry for help hidden under a smile and the banal I'm fine phrase?

At the Legnica exhibition, everyone can try on the jewellery on display. The author's intention was to give viewers an opportunity to face the physicality of the necklaces and brooches, to check "how they fit", to see if they are ‘friendly’, or if they rather feel heavy and chafe. Likewise, each of us can face their own feelings and keep doing so long after the exhibition has ended.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Author: Justyna Teodorczyk

Separation anxiety / Fidelity, Devotion necklace, copper, silicon, steel, 2023

Separation anxiety / Fidelity, Devotion necklace, copper, steel, amber, 2023