Klaus Bürgel
Ghost (ring) | 2001 | Gold 750, tintype, ulexite | 36 x 17 x 32 mm
Klaus Bürgel: Jewelry and Drawings
Klaus Bürgel’s jewelry is inspired by nature and the sensual properties of the artist’s materials: silver, gold, palladium, pearls, tektites, and various precious and semiprecious stones. The pieces are often daringly simple ( a simple silver rod hanging from a broken circle, for example) and shy away from announcing the monetary value of their materials. In many cases, Bürgel’s silver pieces are unpolished and present a rather impoverished appearance. At other times the silver is brilliant, almost white, yet the forms remain so utterly unpretentious (casts of fossilized leaves, sticks, and pods) that the precious metal seems to have been reunited with its origin as a beautiful yet ordinary element in the natural universe. On occasion, Bürgel splurges and creates a ring piled with pearls and set in gold or a necklaces of gems the size of walnuts. In such cases, however, the impression is not one of ostentation, but of a playful and exuberant embrace of sensuality and luxury.