2018 Catalogue Archive

Dutch artist Paul Derrez’s Dot brooch is just as the title describes. Perspex dots, of different sizes and colors, are distributed across an oval of acrylic. It sounds and looks simple, but like everything stripped away to its basic elements, the detail matters. What might seem random or casual is in fact the outcome of careful consideration; subtle differences in the arrangement of the dots make a difference, as can be seen when a group of these brooches, all different, are lined up together and a restricted palette of color, form and materials proves to be capable of endless invention. In 2015, this series was awarded the prestigious Herbert Hofmann prize at the Internationale Handwerksmesse in Munich, Germany. As the judges noted in their comments, ‘Optimism, cheerfulness and happiness are qualities which we need most urgently in our times. In Paul Derrez’s brooches the jury of the Herbert Hofmann Award sees these qualities combined. The coloured plastic elements are joined in a way that gives them freshness and authenticity. Traditional values of creating jewellery are to be recognized in the careful production and the considered allocation of the colours bestowing on the material an additional relevance and expressiveness.’ Paul Derrez was trained as a goldsmith and designer, and in 1976 he founded Galerie Ra in Amsterdam. His work is featured in many international museums, including the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan.