Psychology of bling
The Hindu : Coming from the Van Cleef dynasty, it was natural for Olaf also to take to jewellery. He, like his ancestors, has a passion for precious stones. Even in that his job profile is a tad offbeat. He does not “design” jewellery, but is a “counsellor on high range jewellery” and has been with Cartier since 1982. In fact, he was so successful that he was in charge of the Cartier mission in India between 1989 and 2002.
But just selling jewellery is not his agenda. “It is giving customers advice. When it comes to jewellery it is a piece of heritage that we sell, not just a piece of jewellery. It is personalised when a man gifts his wife a jewel for he is gifting his love and memories of his life, which in turn is handed down generations. Each one has a picture in his mind. For that man it may be symbolic, and that is where my interest comes in. I am more into the psychology of jewellery. Jewellery is like adding a little bit of marmalade to your buttered toast. Too much of it will ruin the taste. In the same way jewellery too should be just perfect; it should accentuate your beauty, not take away the attention from it,” explains Olaf.
He starts by making his customers wear the jewellery and experience it first.
“A customer is not just a customer, and neither ishe your friend. He is one to whom you give something to help him select gifts for his various reasons — may be for sexuality, vanity, or as a token of love to his children,” explains this counsellor, who feels Indians have a great sense of colour and contrast.
“In Paris, people are boring. They are always playing with greys, blacks and white. The idea of contrast simply does not exist there. I love the way Indian women play with…More
The Hindu said,
February 4, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
The love affair continues
Olaf van Cleef’s latest collection of paintings literally tell sparkling tales about India
They shimmer and sparkle in a joyful celebration of Indian mythology and royalty. ‘Sparkling Stories,’ Olaf van Cleef’s latest collection of paintings at Artworld, is a beautifully coloured, bejewelled mosaic of Indian imagery lovin gly put together by the man who has self-professedly been inspired by the country’s multicultural heritage.
In his second exhibition in Chennai, Olaf, who is a counsellor on high range jewellery with Cartier since 1982, branches out with a collection of figurative paintings, a change from his trademark abstracts. In doing so, he reveals his jeweller’s touch to a greater extent than before. Every one of his delicate drawings of Indian Gods and Goddesses, rajas and ranis, royal elephants and palaces is adorned with Swarovski crystals of all shades. Olaf may not be working with the rubies or emeralds he’s accustomed to, but you can see the legacy of the van Cleef dynasty of jewellers in the beautiful detailing of the necklaces, ornaments, crowns and saris with glittering crystals.
Intricate workmanship
But to focus only on the ‘jewels’ would be to do the paintings a disservice — the intricate workmanship on the canvases goes beyond crystals. There’s the painstaking use of tiny dabs of plaster of Paris that provides wonderful texturing to the open spaces of the paintings. There are the miniscule squares of metallic chocolate wrappers that he uses together with squares of paint to compose a shimmering mosaic all over the canvases. And there’s the soft pastel water colours he uses as a base for each of the paintings. Each of these elements give his works a distinctive look — this is Indian mythology and royalty re-interpreted, as seen through the eyes of a man who has visited the country 55 times since the age of seven, according to Manob Tagore of Cottage Industries, an associate of Olaf’s.
The exhibition also displays some of his brilliantly coloured abstracts, making for an interesting contrast. Where the figurative paintings are done more in pastels and contain a suggestion of tentativeness in the lines of the drawings, the abstracts pulse with energy and confidence. The colours are bolder and more arresting, with snaking lines of black and white strongly delineating the patchwork of hues, and his signature stick figures introduce movement on the canvases in a way that’s missing in the figurative works.
Put together, this is a one-of-a-kind exhibit in terms of colour, content, composition and style. All that’s left to say is — Olaf van Cleef’s love affair with India continues, and thank God for that. The exhibition ends on February 2.