May 30th - June 10th 2011

Karl Fritsch

'ringe zu verkaufen'

From an interview with Reinhold Ludwig from Art Aurea:

KARL FRITSCH: I learnt goldsmithing in a pretty traditional manner at a vocational college and company in Pforzheim. Then at the Academy I found out how I could use what I had learned. I enjoy working, and things often have to be done very quickly. One moment, a ring wants to look a certain way, and the next, it wants to look like something quite different. Sometimes it even freaks out, is unruly, out of control. Sometimes a ring plays a joke on me, or it sits at the table like a good child, doing nothing. Then it's about quickly soldering, casting, filing, setting stones. The ring can't wait; it is impatient and wants to hurry. In regard to statements, I refer to form finding, i.e. determining "this is how the ring is supposed to look. This is good. There hasn't been a ring like this before."

ART AUREA: Especially with regard to jewelry, isn't there an elementary desire for beauty as well as for perfection or precision in terms of the piece itself?

KARL FRITSCH: Yes, of course it wants to be beautiful. The technique also wants to be beautiful, and most often it's the idea that wants to be the most beautiful. But sometimes a piece likes nothing better than to sit in the mud and not give a damn about how it looks. If it is exactly what it wants to be in a given moment, it is precise, perfect and the most beautiful.

ART AUREA: How important is it to you that your jewelry is actually worn, i.e. is not only collected as an art object? And how would you characterize the people who wear your pieces?

KARL FRITSCH: I am always very happy when I accidentally meet somebody wearing one of my rings. Usually it looks different than when it left me, and this is great. It lives with somebody and experiences incredible things. The ring wants people to try it on – for whichever reason – and even a collector or a museum curator won't be able to resist it. The ring is curious and looks for curious wearers.