Checking in with Cong Ma

More than 100 international artists utilized for this year’s Young Artist Award. Cong Ma was picked as a person of the finalists. She gained an unrestricted hard cash award of US$1,000 and exhibited her function in Platina’s booth at Schmuck, in July 2022.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Group
Cong Ma, Good Art 101 Group, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, wonderful silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang

AJF’s Younger Artist Award acknowledges assure, innovation, and individuality, advancing the occupations of soaring artists. The levels of competition was open up to makers of wearable artwork age 35 and below who are not at this time enrolled in a professional coaching plan. Judging was based on originality, depth of thought, and quality of craftsmanship. This year’s jurors have been 2020 AJF Artist Award winner MJ Tyson (US) collector and gallerist Karen Rotenberg (US) and educator and curator Chequita Nahar (The Netherlands).

Ma’s operate signifies a team of exceptional parts of modern day jewellery. We questioned her to tell us a little bit about her qualifications and ideas on the foreseeable future of the field.

Bonnie Levine:  Congratulations on currently being one particular of the 5 finalists for the 2022 Younger Artist Award. What an accomplishment! Remember to introduce oneself to our readers. How did you turn out to be intrigued in jewellery? What conjures up your function?    

Cong Ma: I am a painter, a jewelry maker, and a designer. Born to a household of artists, I have been drawing at any time since I could pick up a pen. I uncovered my fascination in artwork jewelry because it is a special art type impartial of any functionality but near to the people sporting it.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Ring
Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Ring, 2021, sterling silver, brass, great silver, acrylic paint, 95 x 22 x 1 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

What does currently being a finalist suggest for you? Do you consider it will influence you likely ahead?

Cong Ma: Remaining a finalist will make me want to adhere with art jewellery. I see the creative imagination among all the finalists, and I am grateful to be linked to this community, particularly right after a put up-COVID period of growing technological know-how and quarantine. By being in this local community, my consciousness will keep up with the occasions, and that is vital to an artist’s improvement.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Necklace
Cong Ma, Fantastic Art 101 Necklace, 2021, sterling silver, brass, high-quality silver, acrylic paint, 300 x 34 x 58 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang

Tell us about the perform you utilized with. 

Cong Ma: I see jewelry as a implies to an stop for understanding about all varieties of knowledge that interest me. My interest in geometry and bigger dimensions impressed this entire body of operate. For illustration, a three-dimensional ball heading via a two-dimensional thing would seem to be a circle escalating and then receiving scaled-down right until it disappears. Likewise, a 90-degree angle intersecting a slanted surface unfolded onto a two-dimensional airplane is no longer 90 levels. These are intriguing observations and phenomena. I would like to express these illusions as a result of my operate in an summary way.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone
Cong Ma, Wonderful Artwork 101 Cross Cone, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, wonderful silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

What excites you about the artwork jewellery subject? 

Cong Ma: I delight in building artwork jewelry simply because of the independence it offers me to chat about any matter in the planet that passions me in significant means.

Any frustrations that you see or have knowledgeable? 

Cong Ma: The connection among my art and me is very normal. Any time I have an concept, I can realize about 90% of that idea, and I am constantly pleased. If there ever ended up any frustrations, it may possibly be that I would like to study a lot more methods in jewellery-producing to be ready to express much more of my ideas. But that would involve some time and commitment to mastering in the upcoming.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cubicle
Cong Ma, Great Art 101 Cubicle, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, fantastic silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, picture: Shawn Zhang

In which do you consider artwork jewelry is likely? Do you see any new and exciting traits?

Cong Ma: I consider the artwork jewellery field likely in various techniques. First, for the reason that the audience is relatively tiny compared to other art fields, it could have the opportunity to expand incredibly large, to the extent that its definition turns into ambiguous. It could likely merge with style, home furnishings, or know-how in the type of video games and NFT, which 1 can by no means have on. So individuals may well not want a physical piece to put on and get in touch with jewellery, but they could have an urge to associate, fantasize, and ultimately convey.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 (detail)
Cong Ma, Fantastic Art 101 (element), 2021, brooch, sterling silver, high-quality silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

Where would you like to be five years from now?

Cong Ma: I want to continue on to believe about artwork jewellery philosophically. Via my very own experiences and exposures, I can create a mature principle in style. I see it in the variety of a treatise where I would systematically take a look at my thoughts and have my artworks mirror those tips.

Congratulations once again! Thank you for taking the time to response these inquiries.

This is the last of our interviews with the honorees. Study the job interview with Youthful Artist Award winner Mallory Weston below. Our job interview with finalist Taisha Carrington is right here. Check out out Marion Delarue’s interview here. You are going to come across our job interview with Aaron Decker in this article.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone Triangle
Cong Ma, Wonderful Artwork 101 Cross Cone Triangle, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, wonderful silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, picture: Shawn Zhang

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