The artist Ariel Scornik returns to the cultural scene with “Metals that come to life”

From his workshop located in the Buenos Aires town of Olivos, surrounded by rockers, discs, grinders and sanders, aluminum, boxes with stones and diamonds, materials that overflow on the shelves and endless tools to make jewelry of all kinds, Ariel Scornik is finalizing details for the opening of his exhibition “Metals that come to life”, to be held next Thursday, December 11 at 7:00 p.m. at Azulay Art Gallery (Av. del Libertador 1028, CABA).

It will be the 76th exhibition of the exceptional Argentine artist, with more than 60 years of experience in the field, self-proclaimed “jewelry sculptor.”

Her pieces, so colorful, elegant and feminine, admired for their innovative and exclusive designs that radiate vitality, toured numerous galleries, events and individual and group exhibitions around the world, such as Madrid, London, Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Miami, Milan, Vicenza, Caracas, Punta del Este and New York.

After an impasse of several seasons, the artist returns to the Argentine cultural scene with the presentation of a striking collection of jewelry that consists of a set of 160 pieces ranging from earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets and bangles of different colors designed mostly in titanium, the favorite metal he uses to make his works that «fall in love» with the naked eye.

Her jewels will also dialogue with four other sculptures of her creation: one made of iron and acrylic from the ’70s, two others made of stainless steel measuring 1.80 meters high with titanium details, and a striking aluminum jewel-sculpture with an amethyst geode, called “Amethyst worship” (Veneration of an amethyst). For the first time, Scornik will fuse a sculpture with the stones that usually make his jewelry in his first individual exhibition with titanium as the protagonist.

“With titanium, with colors, the jewels come to life and blend with the skin,” adds the artist, winner of the 1982 Konex Prize in Crafts. On that occasion, Scornik was distinguished among the five best figures in the history of Argentine visual arts.

Scornik’s new jewels

Among her main creations is a bracelet that will match a necklace in homage to the Eiffel Tower when she lived in Paris. Both pieces are silver. “It seemed more appropriate to do it with this silver metal because I gave it a dark, powdery color, which is related to the original color of the Eiffel Tower,” reveals the artist.

Also, a replica of the medallion that Scornik created exclusively to give to Queen Letizia of Spain on the occasion of her wedding to King Felipe VI and by virtue of the Fifth Centenary of the discovery of America will be on display. The original gold and platinum piece designed by the artist, valued at $20,000, is located in the Zarzuela Palace, in the Spanish capital.

And as a finishing touch, there will be an exclusive showcase where the “María Kodama Collection” (1937-2023) will be exhibited, one of his main clients, a personal friend of Scornik and also a patron, a great admirer of his work. The jewelry of the widow of the famous Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was kindly donated by her family and will be exhibited for the first time in Argentina.

The opening event will feature a vernissage and models who will exhibit their most recent creations. In addition, there will be jewelry raffles among those present scheduled for the closing of the exhibition, next Friday, December 19 at 7 p.m.

“Jewelry sculptor”

Ariel Scornik defines himself as a “technically and artistically self-taught artist”, owner of a creativity that knows no limits. In a way he “inherited” a family artistic legacy, since he is the nephew of the prestigious Argentine sculptor Noemi Gerstein (1908-1996), acclaimed for her works both in Argentina and in the rest of the planet. In fact, one of his sculptures marked the official inauguration of the Sculpture Patio, at the National Museum of Fine Arts.

In addition to his renowned sculptor aunt, his mother was a cartoonist and his father, a writer and poet. «Roberto, my father, died very young, when I was two years old. Later, my mother had a relationship for many years with the Spanish writer and poet Lorenzo Varela.

For this reason, he was surrounded by artists for much of his life, since his home used to be frequented by numerous writers such as Ernesto Sabato, Rafael Alberti, Raúl González Tuñón and Luis Seoane, among others. “I grew up in an art environment,” he reveals.

His first contacts with the world of art emerged when he was little, when he was only 12 years old he painted oil paintings. He also made small sculptures in clay and carved multicolored bas-relief figures in wood that he still keeps in his home-workshop in Olivos.

Shortly after, he discovered the world of jewelry creation in a purely fortuitous way. «When I was 17 I had a 15-year-old girlfriend named Renata. She gave me a tie-lock but I didn’t like it.» The young Scornik tried to file the piece: “I wanted to make it smooth but the damn thing came out,” he remembers.

«So, I took it to a jewelry store near my house to have it soldered, but they wouldn’t give me any money. They thought: ‘What can I charge this kid?’. The fifth time I went they told me: ‘Look, kid, go to the workshop on Cangallo Street on the second floor.'»

«That workshop had a dirty and neglected appearance, but I fell in love with what the man did. I asked him where things were sold. Then I bought the tools and started working without knowing how to do anything; I only had my manual skills. I am totally self-taught,» he completes the anecdote.

As soon as he started working, Scornik abandoned the Architecture degree he was pursuing at the UBA and fell completely in love with his craft, intertwining polished stones with gold and silver metals, managing to create endless pieces such as rings, necklaces, pendants and bracelets of all kinds. Thus, he became a “jewelry sculptor.”

The turning point occurred at the end of the ’60s, when a cousin invited him to spend a summer vacation in Punta del Este.

This is how he remembers it: «Andrés Rascovsky is a cousin of mine, also a psychoanalyst. He had rented an apartment in Punta del Este with another cousin who, due to family problems, couldn’t go. So, he called me asking if I wanted to come. I told him: ‘I don’t have money but I made these jewelry’. «Give them to me, I’ll take them to see if I can sell you something,» he replied. The following week he called me and told me: ‘I sold you everything. Come.'»

In this way, Ariel Scornik began to earn a living as a jewelry sculptor. In the ’70s, he called his creations “sculptoptics” and in the ’80s he began to design pieces in stainless steel. Since 2004 she has been making jewelry in titanium, a metal she uses to make her creations to this day.

«Titanium is very interesting. I used to work with steel, which is very noble, because polished steel is shiny and white like platinum, but titanium is a lighter metal and allows you to play with other things and offers a greater variety of colors,» says the winner of the 2003 TIA Award (Titanium Innovative Artist) World Titanium Council, in the United States. That award marked his career forever.

Scornik’s works stood out in numerous group and solo exhibitions around the world. Some pieces are part of the Modern Museum of the City of Buenos Aires and the Jewelry Museum of Arezzo, Italy, while other designs were in the possession of private collectors.

Also wearing their jewelry were: the popular singer Madonna, the Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and the British-American actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who lived in Buenos Aires during her childhood. Even the French fashion designer himself, Pierre Cardin, was fascinated by the works of the Argentine jewelry sculptor, who was on the verge of hiring him.

«My fantasy at that moment was to work in Argentina. I didn’t want to go live in Paris. That’s why I didn’t give him a second thought, I didn’t answer him. The next day I went to London,» says the Argentine artist.

«But now, looking far into the distance, I realize that I was not emotionally or technically prepared to make that leap. I learned much more later, I trained more technically. Today, with titanium jewelry I would fly away to work with him,» he adds.

“Metals that come to life”, an exhibition that brings together 160 pieces created by Scornik that combine style, glamor and elegance, with models that will show off their new designs surrounded by sculptures also created by the artist himself accompanied by an unprecedented exhibition of María Kodama’s jewelry collection, always with titanium as the protagonist, in a mega event that will culminate on December 19 with a raffle of the artist’s jewelry among those present.