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Bettina Speckner: a rose is a rose is a rose
Germany: Bettina Speckner and Sienna Gallery, 2011

Technical data: 44 pages, full colour, 17 x 26 cm

Price: from 18 €

Order (Bettina Speckner)

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

Had I the heavens ' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

William Butler Yeats 1865-1939


In my work I am particularly fond of photographs. Sometimes they are old and show bygone places or people of former times, quite often however I use photos I took myself of trunks, flowers, lonesome lanes or landscapes. These pictures turn into pieces of jewelry.

To turn photos into gems, the images are etched on small metal plates or burned on enamel. They become part of an individual composition: precious metals, diamonds, coloured stones and found objects begin to lead lives of their own. Patterns and ornaments arise. Often I employ seemingly banal but peculiar everyday items, forging the sublime and the profane into a new poetic harmony.

I do not work with the intention to decorate things or to make them look prettier. I search to discover the soul of an object or the essence of a photograph and to shape something new which appeals to me and to other people far beyond the optical appearance.

For this exhibition I used text for the first time, creating a group of pieces that draw upon the idea that simply using the name of a thing invokes the imagery and emotions associated with it. Some works came after the text choice and others used the text as catalyst. To 'see' the pieces it is not necessary to know the text, it is used as another layer, transparent yet substantive.

Bettina Speckner 2010