Key Witness

Robin Rice on Visual Art: Challenging the Chåtelaine at Philadelphia Art Alliance

by Robin Rice

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In the Middle Ages, the jingle of metal alerted lowly castle servants to the approach of the chåtelaine, or the lady of the house. In such a large establishment, a housekeeper might be the one who wore keys at her waist, a belt ornament both functional and indicative of status. Locks guarded valuable assets of food, spices, drink and other property. Sometimes other useful and elite tools — scissors, thimbles, ivory tablets, watches and so on — were carried on what came by association to be called a chåtelaine.

Curator Helen W. Drutt English conceived the idea of inviting artists to interpret chåtelaines for contemporary "role models" — pulling from historical figures, pop-culture icons, cartoon characters, politicians and the like. Just as the objects attached to an old-fashioned one were specific to an individual, a contemporary chåtelaine would hold "keys" to the artist's chosen subject: a conceptual portrait of sorts.

"Challenging the Chåtelaine," composed of 78 chåtelaines made by 73 artists, was originally organized for the Designmuseo in Helsinki, Finland. It's continued its worldwide tour and now makes a stop at the Art Alliance — the only U.S. venue on the roster — and is everything an international exhibition of contemporary jewelry ought to be: beautiful, original, surprising, sometimes funny, thoughtful, technically diverse and elegantly presented. Also, there's a handsome and not overpriced catalog.

Some took a simple approach, using arcane materials such as wood, clay, hair, photographs — even prescription drugs set as jewels by Sondra Sherman. Kristi Paap's dense strands of pink cherrystones with white coral (in honor of Diamanda Galás) are especially pleasing. 

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With Lorene Cary, founder of Art Sanctuary and author of the book Black Ice, in mind, Philadelphian Sharon Church made a leather yoke supporting a flail-like black pendant embedded with the Pleiades in diamonds. I anticipated that Felieke van der Leest's chåtelaine inspired by Shrek would be awfully cutesy, but its elegant construction and subtle textures made it a favorite.

From Arnold Schwarzenegger and Morgan le Fey to Leonard Cohen (pictured, above) and Julia Child, someone you find fascinating surely now has a chåtelaine in his or her honor.

In this century I've seen art traded for another artist's work, studio space — and, in one case, a root canal. The informal economy flourishes in hard times.

"Good things can come out of a bad economic situation," reasons Antonio Puri, who for years had been thinking about publicly presenting art for barter rather than money. When he mentioned the concept to fellow painter Henry Bermudez, Bermudez offered his Philadelphia studio as a venue. Puri and Bermudez (neither participated directly in the show) made a couple of collaborative works to trade for refreshments and advertising for the January opening. The show of work from 11 invited artists included encaustics by Erica Brown, photographs by Donald Camp and drawings by Quentin Morris. "I wanted fantastic artists, not just anyone," Puri says.

"Art4Barter" was a hit; however, because each artist negotiates his or her own barters, Puri does not know for sure what deals were struck.

In February, Christine Hopkins invited Puri to organize a second show of 16 artists at her Salon SoHa gallery/hair salon in Haddon Township, N.J.

Puri is now organizing a third show to be held in a New York City studio. Although he does not profit financially from the barter shows, he would trade a painting (and his are not cheap) for a gallery venue and publicity. He says, "Commercial success is good, but if you can help other people along the way, that is also a success. That gives me joy."

(r_rice@citypaper.net)

"Challenging the Châtelaine" | Through April 26, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., 215-545-4302, philartalliance.org, Art4Barterantoniopuri.com