Hanging Around: Necklaces from the MAD Collection

Exotic and experimental neckpieces crafted from a dizzying array of materials, ranging from traditional media like gold, silver, and precious stones to such stuff of industry as steel and plastic to modern-day rubbish like old photo transparencies, fruit-wrapping paper, and even pig intestines, are the subject of this compelling exhibition. The methods employed to make these pieces are equally varied, encompassing both ancient goldsmithing techniques, like chasing and casting, and contemporary technologies, like digital prototyping. Hanging Around: Neckpieces from the MAD Collection features seventy-five works by over seventy creators from across the globe, some anonymous tribal artisans and many other well-known art jewelers like Art Smith, Earl Pardon, Gijs Bakker and Ted Noten.

Notable among the works employing unexpected "non-precious" materials are California-based designer Emiko Oye's "Dawning from My First Jewels" series, assembled out of white Lego bricks, and Korean artist Choonsun Moon's neckpiece made from cardboard and plastic. Other works are distinguished by their unusual combinations of media, like "Dieg Bou Diar" by the Amsterdam-based Mieke Groot, fashioned out of hand-blown glass globes mixed with beads made from tomato paste containers from Ghana, and Ted Noten's "A Siberian Necklace #1," featuring an 18K gold necklace linking beads made out of synthetic rubies and resin-encased insects.

Neckpieces were selected from MAD’s Collection.