You could say West German jeweler Gerd Rothmann is all thumbs, or palms or even ears.
Rothmann`s pewter, silver and gold imprints of flesh, or fragments of the human anatomy, are on display at the Rezac Gallery, 301 W. Superior St. There`s a necklace composed of 10 casts of fingerprints strung on a fine gold wire and a ring topped with one fingerprint that`s a playful tribute to the traditional signet ring.
There are also more untraditional renderings of the human body`s
”negative spaces,” such as the grip of the fist and the inside of the nose.
”This jewelry manages to be hard and soft at the same time. It combines metal and flesh,” says gallery owner Suzan Rezac. ”This is his first one-man show here in the States, and it`s a sort of mini-retrospective. These pieces represent years and years of work.”
Prices range from about $650 for a ring to $17,000 for more complicated pieces, and custom imprinting is available.
Many of the pieces reveal the humor of the artist, who confesses in a written statement that ”for a time I collected palms as others might collect stamps.”
He also managed to collect a few unmentionable body parts that will be on exhibit at the gallery through Christmas.