CONSILIENCE, CURATED BY BRIAN FLEETWOOD
March 27–June 13, 2020
ARTIST TALK
Friday, March 27, 4pm
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, March 27, 5 -7pm
THE ARTIST'S ECOSYSTEM: PLOTTING THE CREATIVE PATH OF ONE OF
SANTA FE'S MOST INNOVATIVE & INFLUENTIAL JEWELRY ARTISTS
(March 2020) form & concept invites viewers to experience Consilience, a group show curated by jewelry artist Brian Fleetwood and form & concept director Jordan Eddy that is part premiere, part personal retrospective, and all participatory. Featuring never-before-seen work by Fleetwood alongside the mentors and students who shaped and continue to advance his artistic philosophy, Consilience includes modular installation, adorned sculpture, embellished textiles and masterful metalwork, in addition to 3-D printed objects for the taking. An artist talk is scheduled on Friday, March 27 at 4pm followed by the opening reception, 5–7pm.
What began as a solo exhibition for Brian Fleetwood soon transformed into the ambitious group show currently residing in the upstairs gallery at form & concept. As Fleetwood’s transdisciplinary, highly collaborative philosophy guided the curatorial process, gallery director and co-curatorJordan Eddy saw an opportunity to anchor the near and far-flung panoply of the artist’s influences in his hometown gallery. “In our early conversations about the show, it became clear that a traditional solo exhibition couldn’t hold what Brian was trying to say,” Eddy says. “His work, and his community, has become a crossroads for this expansive, transdisciplinary story.”
Flanked on one side by his mentors, and on the other by recent students under the artist’s guidance at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Fleetwood presents an amoebic representation of significant milemarkers along his creative journey. From large-scale installation to traditional fine metalsmithing, the guest artists on view encircle and inform Fleetwood’s latest work. Fleetwood’s plant-like, interactive installation, made primarily of industrial materials such as rubber, foam and resin, is adorned with 3-D printed brooches any visitor can pluck for themselves, to then take out into the world and home, mirroring the life of spores, and the metaphorical dissemination of idea pollination and creative arc. “I’m on the autism spectrum, so there’s always been a slight disconnect between my mind and body. Jewelry for me is one of the most fundamental human art forms, and it’s become a way for me to understand that connection. Paying attention to the preciousness of an object and how it interfaces with the body allows us to look at forms in new and innovative ways. Making that effort to connect is everything.”
Important to Consilience is the Creek artist’s inclusion of multiple indigenous artists that highlight jewelry’s expansive and amorphous definition. “There are so many indigenous practices that the contemporary art world would not necessarily consider jewelry, but those artists do. I’m interested in communicating culture in all its under-explored ways.”
Featured Artists: Brian Fleetwood, Chris Ramsay, Kenneth Johnson, Mark Herndon, Susie Ganch, Carly Feddersen, Tania Larsson, JQ Nightshade, Anangookwe Wolf
