Orna Ben Ami | Jewellery by artists on display at BABS Art Gallery

VERNISSAGE - Tuesday, 2 April 2019 at 18.30 
At BABS Art Gallery - Via M. Gonzaga 2, Milan
Vernissage of the exhibition of jewels and works of art by Orna Ben Ami

From April 2 to May 24 2019 BABS Art Gallery will host in its space in Milano the solo show of Orna Ben Ami. The exhibition, curated by Ermanno Tedeschi, focuses on the "sculptures to wear" created exclusively for the gallery by the Israeli artist. The work of Orna Ben-Ami is characterized by the lightness with which she treats a material as heavy as iron, making it so soft and extremely delicate. 
"I repeat to myself that it is fabric, not iron". The artist bends this material to her will, using it as a "visual metaphor" to represent her specific vision of the world. The iron expresses the will to cling strongly to the identity that the object represents, making it eternal and meaningful as a metallic monument. In her artistic expression, Orna Ben Ami has "captured" in iron, just like in a photo shoot, ordinary objects of everyday life: some books stacked, a child's apron, a pillow with still imprinted the silhouette of those who slept there ... all objects that tell something about their old owner absent, the artist or ourselves. In her wise hands, iron is able to give shape to dreams and unrealized hopes in real life. Of this human and creative path, the jewel represents a significant prior. Orna was born as a jewelry artist, she learns the techniques of goldsmithing, along with those of iron casting, at the Jerusalem Technological Center. From there, she began the creative process that would culminate in sculpture, and the creation of works of art exhibited in public and private places around the world. In her works it is easy to perceive then the bond not only conceptual, but also executive that links sculptures and jewelry. In some of the jewels created for BABS Art Gallery, such as the brooch "The Note" or the pendant "Embroidery", we find traces of the same sculptural shapes that later merged into the important artistic project "Entire Life in a Package".  In confirmation of her skills as a goldsmith and "welder", the artist has preferred the technique of forging silver and copper for her jewels, which she has eventually completed with castings in gold, nylon and metal wires, as for the brooch "Patchwork", or through the burnishing of the material itself.  The jewels of Orna are real works of art chiselled with mastery and to be worn with great simplicity. 

The exhibition will be open from Tuesday, April 2 to Friday, May 24, 2019.
Timetable
Mon - Fri / 10.00 - 18.00
Availability for other times by appointment

Orna Ben-Ami 
Orna Ben-Ami was born in 1953 in Israel, and was the first woman in charge of military radio during the mandatory detention. She studied history and international relations at the University of Jerusalem and worked for many years in advertising, public relations and tourism marketing before moving on to a career as an artist. Since 1994 she has dedicated herself to the work and sculpture of metals as her personal artistic expression: she learned these techniques by studying goldsmith craftmanship, and iron casting. Her works focus on burning themes, such as migration. She has exhibited in New York and in various US cities, in Mexico, in Taiwan, as well as in various contexts in Israel. In 2017, the major exhibition entitled "Entire Life in a Package", which brought the refugee problem to global attention, was presented in Geneva at the United Nations Headquarters, and later in New York. The following year, this artistic project landed in Italy, in a series of exhibitions curated by Ermanno Tedeschi. The exhibitions in Italy were held at Villa Aurea, in the Archaeological Park of  Valle dei Templi n Agrigento, at the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro in Matera, at the Casa Romei Museum in Ferrara and at the State Archives in Turin. 

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