Michael Hofmeyer: Australian Exotica

Birds, Butterflies and Moths. Jewellery Series 1
By Kirsten Fitzpatrick, Curator at the Brisbane City Gallery, Queensland

The life and work of the 19th-century British naturalist Silvester Diggles has inspired this new collection of jewellery by Michael Hofmeyer. Using several of Diggles’ watercolours as a starting point, Hofmeyer developed a body of work called “Australian Exotica: Birds, Butterflies and Moths, Series 1”. As the title indicates, Hofmeyer was interested in the exotic appeal that the flora and fauna of Australia held for early explorers, but he was also interested in the idea of using finely crafted objects, wrought from precious metals, to comment upon “the exotic”.

Paradoxically, Diggles’ illustrations, produced well over a century ago, allowed Hofmeyer to view native birds and insects with a fresh eye. He found the image of the Hercules moth, a large creature with a wingspan of 150mm, particularly captivating and it generated both a new makers mark (a tiny moth) and the first piece of the collection, Hercules Moth, a gold brooch with a wingspan nearly half the size of the original. Although made of hard metal, Hofmeyer has used an amorphous pierced hole and carefully formed wings to evoke the soft fragility of the creature. A detail of mokume-gane (a Japanese wood-grain patterned metal) forms the body of the moth. This piece echos the elaborate insect jewellery produced at the height of the Art Nouveau movement. However, Hofmeyer cites the reductive geometry of the German goldsmith Hermann Junger as an influence. Dualistic themes underpin this work and Hofmeyer utitlises figurative and abstract languages to allude to the old-world source material and his new-world objects. This is exemplified in the Hercules Moth brooch where the delicate and complex tracery of the upper wings is balanced by the minimal expanse of unadorned gold in the lower wings.

The figurative nature of Diggles’ work made it additionally appealing as source material for Hofmeyer as iconography from the natural world has been a motif in his work for many years. In this collection, his signature technique of repoussé and chasing (traditionally used for creating detailed imagery) has become more gestural and experimental and he has allowed the process to influence form. Stylistically, and in accord with the fashion of the time, Diggles’ subjects were presented in a carefully composed manner. Hofmeyer’s approach, however, aimed to produce an animated, contemporary interpretation of these images. In his Spike brooch a large crested cockatoo is “framed” in a triangle of gold, but its larrikin character is also displayed. It seems to be screeching and fluttering its wings, perhaps even muttering rudely to itself. The juxtaposition of abstract form and fluid imagery is also successfully applied to the rings and neckpieces which feature tiny butterflies perched on geometric structures. Hofmeyer’s training, as a trade apprentice and as a jeweller in the US and Italy, is evident in his refined sense of design and exquisite craftsmanship. The latter is highlighted in the beautiful clasps and pins which, rather than being hidden, are an intrinsic part of the design.

In the Hercules Moth brooch, the pin is an elegantly forged line of gold and the hinge of the Spike brooch consists of a rod of titanium with a strip of gold languidly curled around it. In the latter, the combination of titanium and gold serves as an oblique reference to old and new-world technologies. The conceptual and technical achievements of this work indicate that, like Diggles, Hofmeyer is an artist with a mastery of technique, and a thinker with wide-ranging interests. Equal parts of passion and skill have informed his works which, drawn from the traditional and the modern, represent the best of both worlds.

Pictured:
Signet ring, yellow and white gold
‘Flight’, 2002, brooch, chased 18ct gold, 30 × 95 cm
‘Spike’, 2002, brooch, 18ct yellow gold, titanium, chased, 70 × 40 mm
Rings, 2002, chased 18 ct gold
‘Hercules Moth’, 2002, brooch, 18 ct gold, mokume-gane, 50 × 85 mm
‘Hercules Moth II’, 2002, brooch, 18 ct gold, titanium, sapphire, 50 × 85 mm
‘Butterfly Necklace’, 2002, 18 ct gold, titanium, chased and fabricated
‘Wave’, 2002, ring, 18 ct yellow gold
Stg silver ring with 24 ct gold inlay