A unique collection that has arrived for the first time in Italy at the brand new VITRARIA Glass +A Museum, located between the Academy and the Zattere, which opened its doors in September 2014, “Precious, from Picasso to Jeff Koons,” an exhibition of art jewellery created by more than one hundred major names in contemporary art, from Picasso to Louise Bourgeois, from Damien Hirst to Lucio Fontana. There are as many as 161 pieces of jewellery, some of which have never been exhibited before, in this collection owned by Diane Venet, a Parisian collector, and a New Yorker by adoption, wife of the famous artist Bernar Venet. Each jewel, conceived as a work of wearable art, is dedicated by its creator to a particular person.
Each work of art becomes a sort of double story, dedication and autobiography at the same time, intensifying its symbolic meaning. Diane herself says that her collection was born on the same day that her husband slipped on her ring finger a thin silver band as a wedding ring. The collection has grown over time by commissioning pieces of jewellery to the artists who associated with the couple. In its variety the collection appears to be one of the most diverse art jewellery repertoires, balancing provocation, irony and play, showing that, at the drop of a hat, the artists could themselves become jewellers.
WHERE: Palazzo Nani Mocenigo, Dorsoduro 960, 30123 Venice, Italy