COLLECT ME! (2019)

Collect Me! is an edition of 50 hyper-commercialized brooches which question the line between fine art and product. The series employs materials and visuals which are unpretentious and nostalgic—like shiny, colorful plastic, glittering surfaces, and specific but vague shapes which reference those found in toys, advertisements, and household items from the past—to engender a nostalgic familiarity and seduce the viewer while remaining impossible to place.  “Collect Me!” brooches come in multiple value tiers, but as they increase in value, they also increase in scarcity: there are ten of each of the least valuable brooches, and only one of the most valuable. Each brooch comes partially assembled with authored instructions, and is packaged in a “blind box”, a format usually reserved for “lowbrow” commercial products like baseball cards and vinyl figurines. The blind box both advertises and conceals its contents: the outer package is always the same, but the particular object inside varies and remains a mystery until it has already been purchased. “Collect Me!” presents itself as an engaging, unassuming product in order to illuminate how public perception, the desire for mass appeal, and a small pool of active collectors can encourage shallow intentions within the contemporary jewelry field and a lack of understanding outside of it.