I found the inspiration for this work when my cat brought a beautiful, large and strange moth into my studio one night.
The enamels of Jutta Klingebiel prove that scale isn't necessary to astound. Observations from a walk in the forest, victorian-esque portraits or details of an eye or a hand have found themselves the subjects of Klingebiel's jewelry. Unbelievable mastery and personal interpretation of a traditional and laborious technique rarely employed in our times, her enamels imbue us with solemn sentimentality. They reconnect us to fleeting memories of a moment, an encounter, an emotion.
Flutter, finds Jutta Kingebiel- whose enamels were first exhibited with Ornamentum in their second featured exhibition (Five Enamelists -2003) enamelling on stainless steel. She (mostly) forgoes the frames of a setting around the image, the painting creates the form, and the subjects are butterflies or moths. Using stainless steel as the underlying material creates a lightweight yet sturdy form for the works which comprise a concise exhibition of only 10 brooches and two rings.
I found the inspiration for this work when my cat brought a beautiful, large and strange moth into my studio one night.
To see this lovely creature not as a mere motif, but as an independent and multi-layered image of meaning and feeling, appealed to me the longer I occupied myself with it. The main motivation, initially seeking only biological interest, turned into amazement at the seemingly very topical references, metaphors and art-historical references that can be found about this animal across cultures from antiquity to modern times. Themes such as death, resurrection, beauty and finiteness, transformation and rebirth, metamorphosis are associated with the butterfly. In ancient Greek, butterfly means 'psyche', the term combines meanings such as breath, soul and butterfly. Hypnos, the greek god of sleep is depicted with butterfly wings at his temples.
Without wanting to resolve these representations purely iconographically, for me longing resonates here. For something enigmatic, mysterious, timeless, not really to be put into words.
The fragility, the delicacy and strangeness of these creatures never ceases to enchant me. The unbelievably sad fact that these insects are becoming rarer and rarer reinforces my fascination and the feeling that I want to occupy myself with them.
My studio is in an old house that has unfortunately been sold. The surrounding around us is changing increasingly and very quickly. Since more and more houses are being demolished to build new ones and beautiful big gardens are giving way, the insects and other small animals come to us and also right into my workshop. They fly to me, so to speak.
Jutta Klingebiel, 2021
Jutta Klingebiel maintains a studio in Rosenheim, Germany. Following a traditional goldsmithing apprenticeship, Klingebiel attended the Academy of Fine Art, Nuremberg, Germany where she earned an MFA in 2000.
Jutta Klingebiel has been represented by Ornamentum in the gallery and at international design fairs since 2003. Later this year, a ring by Klingebiel will be exhibited at the SCAD Museum, Savannah, Georgia, in the exhibition Rings from the Susan Lewin Collection.
