artist, organiser, artistic director, lecturer 

Peter Deckers

 ARTIST STATEMENT:

Throughout my art life, I have explored the various identities of value, raising questions about their authenticity and validity. I get inspired when I work with jewellery tools and adventurous materials. Despite my passion for this art form, I have struggled with the materialistic aspect of being a jeweller, creating jewellery for its wealth and using materials inflicted by conflict.

I strive instead to incorporate content into my artwork that resonates with different aspects of the human discourse and its rhetoric. This was sparked-off by a simple 70s ‘Ban the Bomb’ batch, memorability insignia and souvenir sentiments, my mother cutting devalued coins for a jeweller in the war by defacing the Dutch queen and being paid in-kind with food, my grandmother’s costume jewellery collection, and how average corner-shop jewellery can be called irreplaceable and convincingly representing people or events as being the most valuable on earth.

For the past forty years, I explored various topics from the mundane to the most serious subjects. like distortions caused by natural and man-made disasters, human rights, animal welfare, religious conflicts,  and political turmoil. I tried to understand and play with the perception and interpretation of value within these overarching contexts, and how it is read and perceived.

Lately, I have concluded that the prevailing context of my current work plays its part in the ‘illusionary perceptions’ of our time, like how social media, cooperative and political power control, greed, and belief systems manipulate the shifting societal focus on reality.

“I am using false interpretations of true value. In other words, what you see is not what you get. This can be found in how our society is unfolding into a hyper-reality, where values of truth are bent to fit any cause, not unlike how fake news and propaganda are promoted as blatant truth”

This type of society I cannot be proud of and therefore it is my mere attempt to break the stronghold of pareidolia (providing things that are not there).

I prefer using discarded and invaluable materials by using my skills to add value to the point that I can detect the precious presence and the magic of jewellery.  Some work might take minutes to make, others years.

CLICK HERE for Peter Deckers ‘VALUE principles’ and work practice lecture

artist statement:

Throughout my art life, I have explored the various identities of value, raising questions about their authenticity and validity. I get inspired when I work with jewellery tools and adventurous materials. Despite my passion for this art form, I have struggled with the materialistic aspect of being a jeweller, creating jewellery for its wealth and using materials inflicted by conflict.

I strive instead to incorporate content into my artwork that resonates with different aspects of the human discourse and its rhetoric. This was sparked off by a simple 70s ‘Ban the Bomb’ batch, memorability insignia and souvenir sentiments, my mother cutting devalued coins for a jeweller in the war by defacing the Dutch queen and being paid in kind with food, my grandmother’s costume jewellery collection, and how average corner-shop jewellery can be called irreplaceable and convincingly representing people or events as being the most valuable on earth.

For the past forty years, I explored various topics from the mundane to the most serious subjects. like distortions caused by natural and man-made disasters, human rights, animal welfare, religious conflicts,  and political turmoil. I tried to understand and play with the perception and interpretation of value within these overarching contexts, and how it is read and perceived.

Lately, I have concluded that the prevailing context of my current work plays its part in the ‘illusionary perceptions’ of our time, like how social media, cooperative and political power control, greed, and belief systems manipulate the shifting societal focus on reality.

“I am using false interpretations of true value. In other words, what you see is not what you get. This can be found in how our society is unfolding into a hyper-reality, where values of truth are bent to fit any cause, not unlike how fake news and propaganda are promoted as blatant truth”

This type of society I cannot be proud of and therefore it is my mere attempt to break the stronghold of pareidolia (providing things that are not there).

I prefer using discarded and invaluable materials by using my skills to add value to the point that I can detect the precious presence and the magic of jewellery.  Some work might take minutes to make, others years.

CLICK HERE for Peter Deckers ‘VALUE principles’ and work practice lecture.