Stylecurated: LAUREN KALMAN: BUT IF THE CRIME IS BEAUTIFUL...

Front Installation view of Lauren Kalman: But If the Crime is Beautiful ( #LaurenKalmanPOV ) +MadMuseum OpenStudios

Over 2,000 brass Kudzu leaves snake along stark showcases like an uncontrollable ivy at the Musem of Arts and Design (MAD) Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery. In direct defiance of Adolf Loos' 1908 essay, Ornament and Crime, metalsmith and performance artist Lauren Kalman commits a noble "crime" by upending minimalism. The second in a series of 6 MAD Transformation Point of View ("POV") exhibits, Lauren Kalman: But If The Crime Is Beautiful focuses on 60 gold pieces from the Museum's permanent collection framed by metallic adornment. Keep reading for a closer look...

Siberian Necklace #1 (2007) by Ted Noten

Gold--as a soft and sunny, mildly reflective solid--represents power, wealth, luck, etc. and signifies transformative powers in magic and mythology. Rejected by modernist jewelers and schools of thought, an absence of embellishment reinforces Loos' 'less-is-more' mentality. In her rebuttal of Loos' modernist association of decoration with women, minorities and moral decay, Kalman displays works relating to gold by John Paul Miller, Margret Craver, Eunmi Chun, Gijs Bakker, Lola Brooks and others. Few days remain to catch the exhibit at the MAD. Stop by to catch a last glimpse of this exhibit by March 15th. While you're there, stop by the Counter Couture exhibit!

Close up of the elements necklace

"Lauren Kalman's intervention is a sculptural and tactile critique of modernism, deftly considering both sexuality and class through the lens of design history"
-Barbara Paris Gifford, MAD Assistant Curator

Armored Polyp (1969) John Paul Miller

"The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from utilitarian objects. Freedom from Ornaments is a sign of spiritual strength"

--Adolf Loos (1908)