Kristine Ervik, Lena Herfindal, Piera Ying-Chu Shih, Tamara Marbl Joka, Veronica Cheann

UNiK mini

3 November - 18 December 2022

Format Oslo is proud to present a small selection of works by five young jewellery artists with a variety in expression and in their approach to materials and techniques. The artists selected to present work at this year’s UNIK mini are Kristine Ervik, Lena Herfindal, Piera Ying-Chu Shih, Tamara Marbl Joka, Veronica Cheann.

Kristine Ervik
The transient character of life functions as a recurring theme in Kristine Ervik’s practice. In this exhibition, she presents a selection of new silver jewellery. Her inspiration arrives from ordinary, everyday life, whereas her focus lies in exploring beauty in the concealed and trivial. Ervik uses this focus as a strategy to direct our concentration towards the beauty found in the downgraded and volatile. By using the expression of value and the communicative ability of jewellery, Ervik aspires to highlight traces and processes that can remind us of the natural world. At the same time, this works as a contrast to the traditional, Western ideal of beauty, which embraces the smooth and flawless. Through metalsmithing and chain maille techniques she creates textures and shapes, and the work process moves between complex structures and organic expressions. For Ervik, it's about capturing movement, rhythm and a natural process at the same time.

Kristine Ervik (b.1990, Fredrikstad, Norway) is a jewellery artist based in Oslo, Norway. She holds a MFA in Medium- and Material based art from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, which included exchange studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Kristine has been selected for several national and international exhibitions, including “Smykker 85-21: New thinking, new materials” at Trøndelag senter for samtidskunst, the Marzee International Graduate Exhibition 2019 and Talente 2020.

Lena Herfindal
Herfindal is interested in interpersonal relations, working with jewelry, embroidery, drawing and body-related work. Themes in Herfindal's artistry are nature, anatomy and her Native American roots. The works are often expressed in organic forms, strong colors and thin lines. Herfindal likes to combine the geometric with organic shapes, sometimes with elements of figuration. Working with in materials like metal, textile, plastic and paper, she uses techniques such as embroidery, hand sawing, and drawing. The process is usually intuitive where the works are created there and then. The work takes place in the moment where every line, every color and shape follows what already is. Over the past year, Herfindal has explored embroidery as a new medium in her artistic processes. She shows some of the results from this in her embroidered brooches. The combination of a playful line with beautiful colors and a tight framing gives an aesthetic appearance. The graphic lines are repeated in every piece of her jewellery.

Lena Walton Herfindal (1985, Stord) lives and works in Oslo. Herfindal has a master's in medium- and material-based art from the Oslo Academy of Fine Arts, 2018. She has had solo exhibitions at galleries such as Det gule huset, Nesbru (2022) and Kunshallen Leirvik, Stord, (2020). She has also participated in group exhibitions in galleries such as Kunstnerforbundet, Galleri Giga and Galleri Golsa. Furthermore, Herfindal has been active as a mediator for The Cultural Schoolbag and held several workshops through Kunstvisitten and Buskerud Art Centre.

Piera Ying-Chu Shih
Human relation, connection, and personal trauma are Ying-Chu’s primary focus. As a material based artist, She use materials as the carrier of emotions, stories and care. The collection of jewellery “ Circles” is inspired by a Chinese literature Dream of the Red Chamber. Little human faces sculpted in white silver, one after another, lined into various circles. Each of us has countless faces and emotions within ourself, these faces and emotions draw a complete circle of who we are. Every circle grows and develops with its own rhythm, containing a whole world of complexity and simplicity. We blossom in the circle of life and the circle of time.

Piera Ying-Chu Shih (b.1993) is a Taiwanese artist lives and works in Oslo. She is a graduate of Oslo Academy of the Arts and Alchimia, Contemporary Jewellery School in Firenze. She has exhibited at A-Galerii in Tallinn, Northing space in Bergen, Konstepidemin in Göteborg.

Tamara Marbl Joka
This jewellery series embodies the enigma of a winter’s night, the phenomenon of darkness, and the role of dreamscapes. Using oxidation and sandblasting, Tamara Marbl Joka emphasizes the contrasting values of darkness and light, while emphasizing shape and depth in the process. She creates a mixture of organic formations and man-made infrastructures.

"When The Sun Is Below The Horizon" is drenched in darkness, visually depicting the night sky in urban areas. It also allows artistic reflection on the human condition, and our notions of darkness. Tamara Marbl Joka asks us to consider darkness in both a literal and figurative sense – both as a natural phenomenon and omnipresent entity.

Tamara Marbl Joka is an Oslo-based artist, recent visual arts graduate, and current master’s student at Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She was born in 1968 in Sarajevo, which was a part of The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the time. Following the dissolution of state in 1992, she immigrated to Norway. She consequently completed her formal training as a lecturer of Arts and Crafts at the University of South-Eastern Norway. An experienced artist, Tamara Marbl Joka has exhibited in many group exhibitions and two solo exhibitions in the Nordic region. In 2007, the county municipality of Telemark purchased her work for their permanent collection.

Veronica Cheann
"There is always a back door" is a piece of work which depicts insects as the protagonist of a situation. Whether our protagonist is resisting or welcoming the offer of an alternative passage is up to the viewer to decide. The insect in this work can also be used as earring or brooch. This project is funded by the Norwegian Cultural Counsel.

Veronica has a bachelor’s degree in material-based art in Khio from 2019. Her medium is art jewelry and installation. She is interested in everyday organic materials, and their implication of fragility, ephemerality, and the concept of constant transformation of organic matter. Rice, flour & charcoal are used as her main material of exploration. Veronica’s works are often inspired by history and theory, and themes like personal identity and cultural experiences are often investigated through materials. In her most current works, she started to explore the ideas of free will vs. luck in her theme. In the past, Veronica has exhibited in group exhibitions in Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art, Galerie Mazeel in the Netherland, & participated the Beijing International Jewelry Art Exhibition. She will have her first separate exhibition in January 2023. Veronica grew up in Hong Kong. She studied and worked in the United States before settling down in Norway.