Checking in with Cong Ma

Additional than 100 international artists used for this year’s Young Artist Award. Cong Ma was picked as a person of the finalists. She gained an unrestricted dollars award of US$1,000 and exhibited her do the job in Platina’s booth at Schmuck, in July 2022.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Group
Cong Ma, Wonderful Art 101 Group, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, high-quality silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, image: Shawn Zhang

AJF’s Youthful Artist Award acknowledges guarantee, innovation, and individuality, advancing the occupations of increasing artists. The level of competition was open up to makers of wearable artwork age 35 and below who are not currently enrolled in a skilled coaching plan. Judging was based mostly on originality, depth of concept, and high-quality of craftsmanship. This year’s jurors had been 2020 AJF Artist Award winner MJ Tyson (US) collector and gallerist Karen Rotenberg (US) and educator and curator Chequita Nahar (The Netherlands).

Ma’s do the job represents a team of exceptional items of up to date jewellery. We requested her to convey to us a bit about her track record and thoughts on the long run of the subject.

Bonnie Levine:  Congratulations on currently being just one of the 5 finalists for the 2022 Young Artist Award. What an accomplishment! Be sure to introduce on your own to our audience. How did you come to be intrigued in jewellery? What conjures up your perform?    

Cong Ma: I am a painter, a jewelry maker, and a designer. Born to a relatives of artists, I have been drawing at any time considering the fact that I could decide up a pen. I identified my interest in art jewellery because it is a unique artwork form unbiased of any features but close to the individuals sporting it.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Ring
Cong Ma, Fantastic Art 101 Ring, 2021, sterling silver, brass, good silver, acrylic paint, 95 x 22 x 1 mm, image: Shawn Zhang

What does being a finalist imply for you? Do you assume it will impact you likely ahead?

Cong Ma: Being a finalist would make me want to adhere with art jewelry. I see the creativeness amongst all the finalists, and I am grateful to be connected to this local community, specifically just after a article-COVID period of rising know-how and quarantine. By currently being in this community, my recognition will preserve up with the moments, and that’s essential to an artist’s improvement.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Necklace
Cong Ma, Wonderful Art 101 Necklace, 2021, sterling silver, brass, great silver, acrylic paint, 300 x 34 x 58 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

Convey to us about the perform you used with. 

Cong Ma: I see jewelry as a signifies to an conclusion for mastering about all varieties of information that fascination me. My fascination in geometry and increased dimensions influenced this overall body of operate. For instance, a a few-dimensional ball going through a two-dimensional thing would seem to be a circle expanding and then finding lesser right up until it disappears. Also, a 90-degree angle intersecting a slanted floor unfolded on to a two-dimensional airplane is no lengthier 90 levels. These are fascinating observations and phenomena. I would like to express these illusions by means of my function in an abstract way.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone
Cong Ma, High-quality Artwork 101 Cross Cone, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, good silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

What excites you about the artwork jewellery discipline? 

Cong Ma: I appreciate building artwork jewellery for the reason that of the flexibility it offers me to discuss about any topic in the environment that pursuits me in significant strategies.

Any frustrations that you see or have seasoned? 

Cong Ma: The romantic relationship among my art and me is incredibly all-natural. Anytime I have an plan, I can understand about 90% of that idea, and I am normally pleased. If there at any time were any frustrations, it may well be that I would like to study a lot more techniques in jewellery-generating to be equipped to categorical much more of my suggestions. But that would require some time and commitment to studying in the long run.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cubicle
Cong Ma, Wonderful Art 101 Cubicle, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, great silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, picture: Shawn Zhang

Where do you assume artwork jewelry is heading? Do you see any new and exciting tendencies?

Cong Ma: I envision the artwork jewellery field likely in quite a few ways. Very first, since the viewers is relatively modest when compared to other artwork fields, it could have the possible to grow really huge, to the extent that its definition gets to be ambiguous. It could potentially merge with trend, home furniture, or technology in the type of video games and NFT, which one particular can never ever put on. So persons could possibly not want a actual physical piece to dress in and contact jewelry, but they could have an urge to associate, fantasize, and finally categorical.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 (detail)
Cong Ma, High-quality Art 101 (depth), 2021, brooch, sterling silver, fantastic silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, image: Shawn Zhang

Where by would you like to be five a long time from now?

Cong Ma: I want to continue on to think about art jewelry philosophically. Through my very own experiences and exposures, I can establish a experienced concept in layout. I see it in the type of a treatise where by I would systematically take a look at my feelings and have my artworks reflect these thoughts.

Congratulations once again! Thank you for having the time to respond to these questions.

This is the last of our interviews with the honorees. Examine the job interview with Youthful Artist Award winner Mallory Weston here. Our job interview with finalist Taisha Carrington is listed here. Test out Marion Delarue’s interview right here. You are going to discover our interview with Aaron Decker here.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone Triangle
Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone Triangle, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, wonderful silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

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