The Masters of the Baroque collection is a series of rings created in collaboration with Belgian painter Luc Tuymans as part of the exhibition Sanguine. Luc Tuymans on Baroque” as part of the cultural festival “Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires”. Shown for the first time at the MUHKA – museum of contemporary Art Antwerp and currently on display at the Fondazione Prada in Milan until the end of February.
The German designer Jonathan Johnson designs and manufactures gold jewellery with provocative symbols or expressions taken from popular culture. By combining contradictory elements – punk and luxury, art and politics, frills and philosophy – he turns the piece of jewellery as object into an autonomous work of art that is determined not only by its external form, but above all by his interdisciplinary approach. His presence in Sanguine/Bloedrood rede nes this inter- play of contradictions. He presents a series of handcrafted gold rings – decorated at the request of curator Luc Tuymans with images of baroque works from the exhibition – in a golden gumball machine that attracts the attention at the entrance as a contemporary object that combines sacrality with consumption.”
Text: Hans Willemse – Sanguine/ Blood Red. Luc Tuymans on Baroque, 2018, MUHKA Antwerp
