Kruger creates emotions and sentiments from the interplay of line, surface and, above all, colour and in doing so seizes upon the principles of abstract art. His focus on vision and sensual cognition is intensifi ed through contrasts – for example, in the juxtaposition of organic and geometric forms, hard and soft materials or of order and chaos. Unusual compositions of material also play a central role; the artist established crochet, considered a ‘domestic’ technique, as a process in art jewellery. From within this sensual jewellery concept, the erotic is also revealed as an intrinsic feature of Kruger’s work.
For Kruger, jewellery has an ornamental character, is not a narrative medium and refers neither directly nor symbolically to specifi c events or social contexts. Historical connections and cultural conventions are nonetheless inevitably bound with certain work methods and genres. Even the arrangement of a necklace’s elements represents a cultural convention. And decoration using found objects, such as feathers or stones, which inform Kruger’s early work, refers to a long tradition of man as creative designer. In his more recent work Kruger has increasingly employed precious materials; however, the play with nature and artifi ciality remains an intrinsic feature.
The current publication presents works from the last forty years and the various work phases in a scholarly appraisal. Numerous large-format illustrations of the jewellery pieces are complemented with images from collections and from compositions by the artist – his sources of inspiration. Furthermore, a ‘glimpse through the keyhole’ into the workshop provides interesting design sketches and drawings.
In a comprehensive showcase, this monograph presents the diverse work of the jewellery artist Daniel Kruger. The combination of sumptuous colours, sensual forms and expressive contrasts show Kruger’s individual creative approach – opening up to the viewer a pictorial world of aesthetic
pleasure.
Exhibition:
GRASSI Museum of Applied Art, Leipzig (DE),
11.12.2014 to 8.3.2015, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, (DE),
27.4. to 28.6.2015, Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau
(DE), 10.7. to 27.9.2015, Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch
(NL), 17.10.2015 to 24.01.2016
Born in Cape Town; 1971/72: studied goldsmithing and graphic design at Stellenbosch University in South Africa; 1973/74: studied painting at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town; 1974–80: studied goldsmithing
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Prof. Hermann Junger; since 1980: freelance jewellery and ceramic artist, numerous national and international exhibitions; since 2003 professor of sculpture/jewellery at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle.
Daniel Kruger was awarded the renowned Herbert-Hoffmann
Prize in 1987 and 2005.
"I have always seen your works only in fragments, in books, in articles. I really look forward to your book. To discovering them all. Time and again they have impressed me. I like them. Sometimes they seem to me to have “fallen out” of the history of jewellery! Works that are also disconcerting to me, surprise me, because they mirror historical models or again reflect entirely different references.
Influences of our times are to be seen in them. Memories of your childhood, your youth. Of a far distant land. Of a different language, a different temperature. Different colours in nature. Different sounds around you. I keep having the feeling that your works are about the joy of making. They are proofs of continual new challenges, of your wishes and that so important and constant searching."
