“From the Collection: GOLD” at Museum of Arts and Design, New York
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New York’s Museum of Arts and Design will showcase a selection of pieces from MAD’s permanent collection that highlight gold as applied across media beyond its traditional use in jewelry from August 14, 2018.“Gold embodies the transformation of the ordi
“From the Collection: GOLD” at Museum of Arts and Design, New York
New York’s Museum of Arts and Design will showcase a selection of pieces from MAD’s permanent collection that highlight gold as applied across media beyond its traditional use in jewelry from August 14, 2018.“Gold embodies the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary. Whether representing immortality, glory, wealth, power, beauty, luck, or love, gold carries an abundance of cultural associations that transcend time and place,” the museum says.Its distinctive color, a warm and reflective yellow, has an inimitable likeness to the radiant sun, which consequently intertwined the material with the sun’s extensive symbolic significance. In addition, throughout history, kings and queens, as well as religious figures and leaders, have been depicted with gold to support their claims to everlasting power and godliness.“For example, the painted saints and religious icons of the Byzantine era were gilded with the lustrous metal to manifest divine light, and the funerary mask of King Tutankhamun was made of gold, which the Egyptians associated with the sun god Ra, to aid him on his journey to the afterlife,” the museum adds.The museum reveals that gold was so desired in the medieval period that those who tried to transform base elements into this precious metal — a practice known as alchemy — risked paying for their failure with their lives.During the Renaissance, goldsmiths were themselves worshipped, while Victorians glorified the purity of love through gilt jewelry.“To this day, golden decorative tokens, from wedding bands to medals and trophies, remain important in the commemoration of special and extraordinary events or feats,” the museum adds.The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) explores the value of making across all fields of contemporary creative practice. The museum focuses on the ways in which artists and designers transform the world around us, through processes ranging from the artisanal to the digital. MAD’s exhibition program is dedicated to creativity and craftsmanship, and demonstrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by gifted and innovative artists. The museum’s permanent collection is global in scope and includes art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day. “From the Collection: GOLD” will be on view from August 14, 2018 at Museum of Arts and Design, Jerome and Simona Chazen Building, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, USA.For details, visit: https://madmuseum.org/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more
