"My jewelry is offensive, sensual and opulent. To this day, I pursue one artistic strategy: the citational juxtaposition of found material and individually designed forms.
Every artistic gesture can be read as a sign that refers to something else.
And it is these signs and the relationships between these signs
in which different levels of meaning open up."
Petra Zimmermann studied Transmedia Art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and has been working as a contemporary studio jewelry artist since 2002. Shifting between design, fashion, applied and fine arts, Zimmermann devotes herself to aesthetic questions about the value, appeal and transience of beauty. Jewelry in its hybridity between autonomous object in space and applied art provides the field of tension for her work.
In 2010 she received the Eligius Jewelry Prize of the Province of Salzburg, Austria.
In 2013, the MAK Vienna presented an overview of her work to date in a solo exhibition.
In 2022, together with the artist Svenja John, she curated the exhibition "Jewellery & Garment", 10 international jewelry positions and avant-garde fashion in the context of the permanent collection of the Bröhan-Museum in Berlin.
Petra Zimmermann's works can be found in prestigious public and private collections worldwide, including the MAK Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Grassimuseum Leipzig, Dallas Museum of Art and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum NYC, among others.
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Petra Zimmermann
26 Oct - 17 Nov 2024Read more -
Up In Smoke
Contemporary Jewelers, Silversmiths and Designers Take On Marijuana 16 Jan - 21 Feb 2021High End Marijuana paraphernalia smoking implements by contemporary artists and designers.Read more -
Petra Zimmermann
Vanity Vague 10 Oct - 15 Nov 2020Comprised of two groups of work, Vanity Vague features bracelets and rings, sculptures for the body that can be described as constructions between surface and free form, which at the...Read more -
Petra Zimmermann and Philip Sajet
Jewelry is my Dearest Sin 29 Apr - 4 Jun 2017To choose jewelry as the medium of expression can be seen as kind of impudent, almost a little sinful, because the present world is offering so many explosive, society-relevant issues that need attention.Read more
Is it not almost the inversion of the avant-garde idea to dedicate your thoughts and work to aesthetic questions of appeal, value and transitory ideas of beauty?
I say No.
Petra Zimmermann
As our plans began, we asked Petra Zimmermann and Philip Sajet- both artists whom we have been showing for years- to hold coinciding exhibitions in our gallery space. When confronted with the task, they reflected on their admiration of each other's work and took it upon themselves to position the exhibition under a single umbrella, coming upon the title Jewelry Is My Dearest Sin to encompass the selection of both of their works- created and collected for this show. Asked to comment on exhibiting together, the artists pondered the qualities joining their worlds together in conversation; even as the outcomes are dissimilar, there are traits found in both artists' works such as the use (and distortion) of found objects, historical reverence- whether in the found materials or the techniques employed, and clear, bold forms which convey an extraordinary strength, even when humor is employed in their designs.
"It was an arranged alliance... but a very good one. We both are on the same quest, but our roads are different. We understand and appreciate each others points of arrival"
Philip Sajet
"On closer examination there are similarities to discover, like the use of found objects.e both are taking what is there. One takes every-day material like nails or bottoms of a bottle, plastic fragments and collected pebbles, the other Cut-outs of ordinary print media and historical jewelry-material...
To exhibit with another artist does not mean to show two positions at the same time, but gives the opportunity to step into a dialog and /or discourse."
Petra Zimmermann
Philip Sajet, Dutch, born 1953, has been exhibiting with Ornamentum within the gallery and at international fairs since 2007. Jewelry Is My Dearest Sin marks Sajet's 4th major exhibition with Ornamentum. Currently residing in France, Sajet's works can be found in countless museum and private collections worldwide.
Petra Zimmermann, Austria, born 1975, works and lives in Vienna, where she was honored with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts several years ago. Zimmermann has been exhibiting with Ornamentum since 2008, within the gallery and at international fairs, her work can be found in countless museum and private collections worldwide. Jewelry Is My Dearest Sin marks Zimmermann's 3rd major exhibition with Ornamentum.
