Hudson, NY— Ornamentum Gallery will present the new exhibition Up In Smoke: Contemporary studio artists from the jewelry, silversmithing, and design world take on marijuana in their Hudson, NY gallery exhibition space.
Celebrated for centuries in the worlds of design, decorative, and applied arts, ‘acceptable vices’ such as imbibing alcohol, tobacco, and snuff etc. are often the subject of fancy silver, glassware, ceramics and more. In the past decade we saw a growing acceptance of marijuana use both therapeutically and recreationally, with full legalization now as part of the Democratic presidential campaign platform. There are so many embedded conversations around racial and economic justice, popular and musical culture, and government overreach in legislating morality to name a few. Yet, examples of high-caliber contemporary design objects made for marijuana use are rare. And, to our knowledge, never before has an exhibition been mounted devoted entirely to the topic.
Based in Hudson, New York, Ornamentum Gallery thought it ‘High Time’ for such an exhibition, so it asked a group of the most significant studio artists and designers from within and outside their gallery stable to approach the topic. The results are stunning, innovative, and thought- provoking. Themes of ceremony, titillation, political caricature, humor, and appropriation emerge in the artists’ works, which also reflects their signature styles and technical skills.
Participating artists:
Gijs Bakker (Netherlands) Ralph Bakker (Netherlands
David Bielander (Switzerland)
Laurene Leon Boym (USA)
David Clarke (United (Kingdom) Aaron Decker (USA)
Karl Fritsch (Germany)
John Iversen (USA)
Jiro Kamata (Japan)
Anders Ljungberg (Sweden) Tiff Massey (USA)
Ted Noten (Netherlands) Gerd Rothmann (Germany) Philip Sajet (Netherlands) Petra Zimmermann (Austria)
