Ping-Pong | David Hardcastle & Samuel Guillén
The works featured are the results of a jewelry dialogue and exchange between two artists. Utilizing the process of jewelry making to initiate a conversation, David Hardcastle and Samuel Guillén exchanged a piece of jewelry made by each and given to the other to spark a response that takes the form of another, new piece of jewelry.
Beginning in 2015 the first two pieces, Ping #1, were exchanged, resulting in two new pieces, Pong #1. Continuing through 2017 this project consists of 5 iterations, or conversations, for a total of 20 pieces on view. Each Ping-Pong grouping is the exploration of process in terms of aesthetic achievements, discoveries, and technical specificity.
“Ping-Pong is a conversation, a jewelers’ interlocution. Each piece has a purpose within a dialogue in which each jeweler, while keeping his own investigations and obsessions, his own style and aesthetics, assimilates the other jeweler’s experience in a constantly growing and enriching process.
Ping-Pong is meant to result in a system of jewels, distinctively personal and at the same time grounded in a relational and generous creative exchange.”- David Hardcastle & Samuel Guillén
Both David Hardcastle & Samuel Guillén are resident artists at Brooklyn Metal Works and their creative process on this project exemplifies the community that can be fostered in collaborative work environments. Both artists were aware of, and impressed by, the other’s work before coming to BKMW. The idea for Ping-Pong grew out of their mutual interests and was facilitated by their close proximity in the studio and ongoing friendship.
