Bruce Metcalf (1949, USA) 

Necklace #4
1988
Painted carved wood, forged and painted brass; lg. 22 in.

After stints as a sociology and then architecture major, Metcalf found himself transferring to the jewelry department during college in 1970. It was a bold move because the crafts weren't highly regarded within the fine art establishment at that time. However, the move felt right, and studio craft is where Metcalf has stayed ever since. All three of those pursuits collide in his work. His work is figurative, issue based, and at times narrative albeit obliquely so. He works with metals (mainly non-precious) plastic, rubber and a whole host of other substances not associated with the precious side of jewelry. His style is essentially between comic imagery and surrealism as can be seen in this work, a recumbent figure with spindly legs, spiky hair and an almost insect-like body. Metcalf has played a pivotal role in the growth of studio jewelry in America and abroad, as much a theorist as a maker. He is the co-author with Janet Koplos of Makers: A History of American Studio Craft (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010).

Reference: Straus, Cindi (ed.) Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt, 2007.

Excellent original condition.