PEARL WORKS

Bruno Pelassy did not attend art school. Rather, he studied textiles and jewelry. While from fashion design he was to borrow his processes, materials, and the techniques for shaping them.

" Along with jewellery and decorative objects, they are domestic things, since they are homemade and their mode of creation and content demonstrates the value of the intimacy of production and its destination. Erect penises are curios, ornaments with subversive potential. They fall within the schema of the lack of culture, heavy workload, and forms of sadism and primitivism related to cults, to religious or erotic / symbolic objects that were criticised by Adolf Loos and by modernity. Now postmodern, they are experiments and oppose the historic devaluation of craft productions. " - Marie Canet

Connected with an over-thetop, banged-together, “baroque” esthetic, the "reliquaries" (1992- 1993) offer a marked contrast with what they enclose and protect, i.e., impressive pieces of jewelry made of gems posed on red velvet cushions. Pélassy turns his attention here to the religious object in its votive and cultural functions, and its erotic-symbolic esthetic. Full of hidden details, these ceremonial pieces suggest the extravagant jewelry spilling from church treasuries and royal collections.


Sceptre
1992-1993
Glass beads, tassels, rock crystal, wire.
50 x 7 x 23 cm

Untitled (Bye Bye Jeff)
1998
Glass, crystal, carnelian, glass beads, wire and metal rods, cotton thread, plastic
32 x 20 x 19 cm

Reliquaire
1992-1993
Wood, paint, glass, mirror, velvet, cotton cords, glass beads, tassels, wire
52 x 55,5 x 36 cm

Untitled (Gracias a la vida)
1996
Glass tubes, glass beads, cardboard, wood, glass
29 x 41,5 x 1,5 cm

Untitled (Viva la Muerte)
1995
Glass beads, nylon, wood
220 x 90 cm

Untitled
1997
Pearls, opals, coral, wire, vine tendrils, velvet

Minerve
1992-1993
Glass beads, black cabochons, wire.
28 x 23 x 35 cm

Amour
1998
Beads, crystal, coral, metal
48 x 20 x 23 cm

Reliquaire
1992-1993
Glass beads, tassels, rhinestones, golden painted wood, velvet, mirror, glass, metal and wire
63 x 34,5 x 34,5 cm

Untitled (Figlio di puttana)
1993-1994
Velvet, pearls, perfume
125 x 190 cm

Serpent / La mue
1997
Glass beads, crystal tassels, wire and rods, vine shoot, velvet, silicone
30 x 40 x 55 cm

Serpent collier
1997
Metal rods, wire, glass beads, crystal, opals, ivory, black coral. Wood, vine shoot, bleached velvet, silicone
25 x 48 x 39 cm