Ornament in Transition

The uniqueness of Silke Trekel (*1969) lies in the melding of artisan skills and awareness with a particular sensibility for the character and texture of the inherent quality of her materials. Whether industrial or organic, they play a crucial role in her designs. The many travels of the Halle-educated artist broadened her perspectives, validating them in a concept of jewelry fed by universal symbolic metaphors of form. The publication gives a first in-depth account of her development, of this dialogue between abstraction and ornamental tradition. In fact Trekel invites us to rethink, for her work unites motifs and guiding concepts, which galvanized twentieth-century art-between sculptural spatial configurations and signs held in suspension. Trekel takes an active part in this story.