Gothic: Sinister Pleasures

An exhibition held at SOFA Chicago in November 2012, featuring work from the 2012 Metalsmith magazine Exhibition in Print, “Contemporary Gothic Jewelry” curated by Valerie Steele. The exhibition then moved to The Metal Museum in Memphis, TN.

“Gothic” is an epithet with a strange history; evoking images of death, destruction and decay. From its origins in the 18th-century literature of terror to its contemporary manifestations in art, cinema and design, the gothic is associated with the powers of horror and the erotic macabre.
But contemporary gothic jewelry involves far more than just skull rings. It draws on the imagery of medieval body armor, ecclesiastical design, the Victorian cult of mourning, taxidermy, body parts (especially blood, bone, and skin), and the femme fatale, as well as ideas about decadence, memory, and fear. The 2012 Exhibition in Print explored all aspects of contemporary gothic jewelry.