Color in Play

The technique of enamel or glass flux was invented some 3,500 years ago and has recently been rediscovered by contemporary goldsmiths and silversmiths. With an exhibition entitled Farbe im Spiel [Color in Play], the gallerist Eva Maisch alludes to the joyful and unconventional handling of this time-honored technique, which flourished during the era of Jugendstil and Art Déco. Today’s enamel artists work virtuosically with cloisonné, champlevé and plique-à-jour enamel. Their goals aren’t solely to achieve richly glowing colors or transparency, but also to explore the textural dimensions of matte, grainy, corroded or intentionally shattered surfaces. Among vessels and containers, sleekly simple shapes and monochrome color schemes have displaced the figurative and ornamental tendencies of the past. Eva Maisch presents a meticulously selected spectrum of exciting and contemporary work by jewelers and silversmiths who reinvent this traditional theme.