Michael Becker
The architecture of light
22.9.2011 – 15.10.2011
Opening: 22.09.2011 h.18,00
Curatore: Dott.ssa Rita Marcangelo
Michael Becker`s works resemble small architectural worlds. The German
artist is fascinated by structures forming the basis of things and by the hidden
networks of these structures. In addition to creating the "anatomy" of a piece,
he is also interested in its sculptural and spatial quality.
At a first glimpse, the jewellery appears to us as very simple and geometric,
but it is only at a second look that the complex construction comes through.
He studies architectural plans, especially those of the Italian Renaissance and
20th century. His emphasis in doing so is on architecture with relatively clean,
geometric designs. He develops his jewellery by studying floor plans, systems
of proportions and rhythms that can be found in works of Alberti and Palladio
or Mies van der Rohe.
Becker predominantly uses gold in his works as he is drawn by the ambiguous
nature of this material. On one hand, its bright, monochrome yellow colour
makes it distinctly perceptible as a three-dimensional material and on the
other, the play of light makes it almost dematerialize to a point that it becomes
intangible. His research brings him to analyze the construction of form through
an in-depth study of light. The result is jewellery conceived as rigorous
architecture, that reacts in a dynamic form to continuous stimulus from light,
whereby the colour of gold combined to that of stones, creates an almost
mystical atmosphere.