Dutch artist Katja Prins has conjured a floral neckpiece from the precise, sterile materials of dental surgery: shiny, chrome-plated metal rods (stems) and curved resin surfaces (petals) remake the conventional association between beautiful nature and glamorous adornment into something far stranger and unsettling. As she suggests, “To me, technology and humans are not separated from each other. But I find it totally interesting that they look very different from each other, which results in a certain tension. I’m not interested in plain beauty and comforting things.” Yet the piece is surprisingly beautiful and easy to wear. After graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 1997, Prins opened her own studio in Amsterdam. Her work is part of many public collections, including the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Schmuck Museum in Pforzheim, and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City. Katja Prins: The Uncanny Valley, a survey of her work, was published by Arnoldsche in 2009.
Katja Prins
OFFSPRING
2014
chromium-plated brass and resin
necklace: 6 1/4 inches; flowers: 2 x 1 1/8 x 5/8 inches