Daniel Brush Bakelite, Steel, Gold, and Diamond Cuff Bracelet, c. 2004

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Daniel Brush Bakelite, Steel, Gold, and Diamond Cuff Bracelet, c. 2004

About the Item

Bakelite, Steel, Gold, and Diamond Cuff Bracelet by Daniel Brush, New York, circa 2004 A carved, off-white Bakelite cuff ornamented with a granular steel inscription ”What’s the word, hummingbird?” and curling decoration, embellished with collet-set, circular-cut diamonds; in a fitted suede and snakeskin box • Signed with maker’s mark, a stylized db Biography For more than thirty years, New York based artist Daniel Brush has created paintings, sculpture, and jewelry. His paintings and drawings are inspired by the Japanese Noh theater, while his steel sculptures incorporate granulation, inlaid gold, and, often, winged insects attached by rare earth magnets. His experimentation with jewelry design began thirty-five years ago, evolving from pieces inspired by ancient gold work to animals made out of Bakelite and other space-age materials. He has had several exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and many books have been devoted to his work. In 2012, the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, presented Daniel Brush: Blue Steel Gold Light, and in 2017 Van Cleef and Arpels’s L’École des Arts Joailliers, Paris, exhibited Daniel Brush: Cuffs and Necks. Significance Whether he is creating a sculpture, a painting, or one of his jewels, Daniel Brush is one of the most unconventional and extraordinary artists working today. Brush’s creations encompass a wide variety of media, and each of his pieces is an entity unto itself—a unique work of art. This bangle is part of a group of pieces inspired by his childhood memories of visiting New York City with his parents. Brush said, “My mother and father owned a children’s clothing store for over forty years. In the 1950s, I traveled with them to the Seventh Avenue garment district, where they placed wholesale orders for dresses, underwear, shoes, stuffed animal toys, and little girl dresser sets. The sets had a mirror, comb, and brush, and often a bangle with rhinestones.” This bangle, inspired by those childhood memories, began as a solid block of Bakelite hand filed, shaped, and polished to its present form through an exacting and rigorous reductive process. The fine steel beads that define the quote and decoration are a minute .024 mm wide; they are tapped into small holes and secured with resin, a process that demands both mental and physical dexterity. The diamonds, set into collets, are applied similarly. Beyond the artistry involved marking this piece as superior, there is also the extraordinary choice of material. Bakelite, a plastic medium, has been used for a variety of items from jewelry to furniture and car accessories to insulation on space ships. Tantamount to the mastery of the jewel is the message on the bangle, the charming colloquialism, “What’s the word, hummingbird?” The witty phrase and Brush’s use of nontraditional materials in his jewelry making encourages a change in how fine jewelry is perceived—and encourages viewing the piece through the eyes of an artist.

Creator:
Daniel Brush
Metal:
Gold,Steel
Stone:
Diamond
Stone Cut:
Round Cut
Dimensions:
Width: 3.6 in (91.44 mm)Depth: 0.75 in (19.05 mm)Length: 2.6 in (66.04 mm)
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
2000-2009
Date of Manufacture:
c. 2004
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: F13201stDibs: LU2075214078332