Visit the studio of DULK and he prepares for “Ephemeral Treasures,” a special exhibition taking place in NYC with our good friends at Spoke Art.
What is the inspiration behind this latest body of work? Could you share with us a bit of your process for approaching the sculpture and jewelry line that will be debuting for Ephemeral Treasures?
Well, as with all of my paintings, my inspiration behind any of them is based on my trips all around the world where I go to observe the animals in their natural habitat. I love getting inspired in nature because those feelings are transmitted to the paintings once I’m back at the studio. This time I would like to go a little bit further and create a sort of window into the threatened habitats where the animals live.
I love to make sculptures of most of my paintings’ characters, and in every solo show, I try to have at least one hand made. In this exhibition, I would like to pay tribute to an extinct animal that passed away 3 years ago. It’s a very special sculpture because it’s a unique piece and it has a very special meaning to me. On my latest trip to Kenya I had the opportunity to visit the tomb of Sudan, at Olpejeta conservancy, he was the last male of northern white rhino and the feelings there were indescribable.
About the jewelry line, it’s been more than a year since I’ve been talking about it with my friend Gabriel Suarez who is the creative director of Suarez, a renowned Spanish jewelry brand. They already produced some jewelry collection with other artist like Okuda or James Jean and he asked me to launch my own jewelry line, I accepted immediately because it’s something special that old masters like Dali or Pablo Picasso did in the past.
It is a unique collaboration, in which the work of an author is turned into a piece of jewelry after a process of elaborate preciousness, in collaboration with the artist to achieve custom-made art. The jewels make up the exhibition as part of the whole. There will be 2 unique pieces available, one of a kind each, one ring and a pair of earrings, and I can say that I’m really happy with the result. The concept of converting the animals into jewels is something that I always strive for with my artworks and now with these pieces it’s more evident.
On view February 20 through March 13, 2021 at:
Spoke Art
210 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
