“My most important goal is to make jewellery that belongs to the high-level, world class contemporary art trend” – says Marcin Tymiński, Polish designer celebrating the 20th anniversary of his professional activity this year. His latest collection “For Sale” amply fulfils this goal, and it will be presented at this year’s trade fair Joya in Barcelona.
The collection “For Sale” is a retrospective expedition, however, not in the traditional sense, as it does not summarise his artistic works to date, but is a kind of prelude to what the artist is planning to do in the nearest future. What combines the past and present are the projects created in the last two decades and only now realised in the author’s own technique of polymer cutting, which has recently been refined so well that when used on amber it brought the artist Grand Prix in the Prestigious competition Amberif Design Award 2017.
Marcin Tymiński work which received Grand Prix in Amberif Design Award 2017.
Photo: Katarzyna Jankowiak / www.picapica.pl
Over a hundred of works presented at the exhibition take the viewer to the world of author’s strongest inspirations, which are acquaristics and contemporary architecture. The former brings multicolour, some kind of unreality and interpenetration of colours to his works, whereas the latter is playing with the light, operating with transparency and non-transparency. A trained eye will notice there the references to his earlier collections – transposed form silver to polymer, they gain lightness and become more subtle and interesting again. There is also amber – the stone that has played a significant role in his works to date, and has helped him win many awards. This time, however, it is “served” in a completely different way than it has been so far: it is cut in such a manner that the whole attention is focused on its interior. The exhibition “For Sale” was presented for the first time during the crowning event of the SREBRO Festival in Legnica in May this year and was found one of the most interesting and surprising exhibitions. It gained popularity not only because it included high-quality works made of polymer, which were rather unexpected, but also thanks to a particular interpretation of retrospection, which turned out to be a vision of the future. The title also played a part, as it is meant to attract attention to the problem of undervaluing of artistic thought. The exhibition created such an interest that it was later shown in a few cities in Poland – as promised by the artist, who continues to realise more “old” projects in the “new” material, and changes some of the exhibits so as each exhibition is slightly different than the others.
Marcin Tyminski work chosen by JOYA Art Jewellery Fair in Barcelona.
Brooch: Epoxy resin, plastic, plexi, steel, gold and silver.
The international public will get a chance to see at least some of the works from this exhibition in September this year at the JOYA Art Jewellery Fair in Barcelona. As Tymiński assures, for him, the event is one of the most important stops on his way to achieving his goal, which is “being placed among the artists who make the kind of jewellery that I want to make”. “I am convinced that I could learn a lot from them, and develop. Because I still expect something more from myself” – he declares. Following Marcin Tymiński’s artistic path, one can get an impression that the last sentence is his life motto. He has said in an interview for the Amber Portal amber.com.pl: “I keep looking for new forms and materials, and I think that I am going to do so for the rest of my life. I don’t want to stay in one place and do the same all the time, perhaps adding or taking something away…” Since the beginning of his career he has been standing out thanks to his consistence in breaking away from stereotypes, and his works have been distinguishable due to their innovative design. His projects, both commercial and the unique ones have been surprising with the freshness of his ideas and intransigence of the author. Zbigniew Kraska, the director of the Art Gallery in Legnica, the organiser of the SREBRO Festival, has summarised Marcin Tymiński’s artistic works to date in the following way: “We don’t often come across (…) an artist with such a feeling of pure form and awareness of the materials and tools used. Marcin has always had his own style, which does not rely on – as it often is the case among new artists, aspiring to the artistic Parnas – trying to differentiate by all means, through making the form of the object bizarre, breaking the rules of composition, construction, technique or simply by shocking with the content. While he doesn’t forget about the basic, inherent functions of jewellery, he uses the “old”, universal language of geometry and applies the well-known methods so well and effectively that he was able to gain a clearly distinguishable and permanent position among other designers. If geometry was God, he would probably be the most eager, orthodox and loyal follower”.
Marcin Tymiński doesn’t limit his activity to solely design and artistic jewellery. He also deals with car and motorbike customising, as well as being a tattoo artist. He used to be a cook, cyclist, an editor of a trade magazine, and currently he is also the chairman of the Association of Artists and Goldsmiths (elected for the 4th term). “My hobbies give stimulate me: even if the areas seem to be distant, they interpenetrate each other and are a great source of inspiration. They also force me to think about who I actually am: a visual artist? a drawer? an artist?” – he explains. And he answers himself: “You are an artist when somebody calls you that and you have earned it. I am a creator: I create jewellery”. His works to date prove that he fully deserves to be called an artist: he creates his works based on his own concepts and gives them a unique character.