BERNHARD SCHOBINGER

There is no doubt at all about
Bernhard Schobinger being a megastar of the contemporary jewellery scene. Whereas his earlier jewellery reveals the influence of Punk and the radical negation of hide-bound middle-class values, more recent pieces tend to emanate an aura of mysticism. An example of the mischievous delight in experimenting informing his works is the way he links diamonds with objects that may have been retrieved from the rubbish bin, a gesture that brands their glitter, too, as the detritus of the throw-away society.

Bernhard Schobinger's jewellery and the photographs of it by Annelies Štrba , a leading contemporary photographer and video artist, has been forged by Štrba's documentary approach to recording these pieces although the term ‘documentary record’ hardly does justice to the art photography resulting from this productive association. In presenting an apposite selection of Štrba's photographs of jewellery, this book not only elucidates features the two media have in common but also reveals the differences between the two as autonomous areas of artistic achievement.

The Swiss jewellery artist Bernhard Schobinger is one of the most forcefully expressive, critical and aesthetically inspiring contemporary exponents of his art.