*1982
Brosche "Individual Mythologies #1"
2018
Kupfer, Messing, Bronze, Sterling Silber, Edelstahl · auftiefen, patinieren
Jiun-You Ou
Jiun-You Ou is a Taiwanese artist who currently works and lives in Germany. She began her career as a self-taught metalsmith and an apprenticeship in the field of jewellery. The non-academic background made her work freely and reflect her life uniquely. The series of work "Individual Mythologies" was developed in this context. It was first developed around 2013 and has become an ongoing project until today.
The whole project is initially influenced by the idea "bricolage" that was proposed by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. "Bricolage" is a working method that "bricoleur" adopted. It is concerning working deviously with what could be found to hand and substitutional "functionalities" from available machines, tools, and leftover materials. Besides, this working method also became a way to develop "forms". The interrelations among material units are "kinetic": when one unit is used, it implies the use of certain units and vice versa. This "kinetic" character is also about the mobility within the working method and how devious process has become a kind of poetic labor.
Including the ongoing series of above "Individual Mythologies", Ou Jiun-You’s works are widely exhibited all over Europe and Asia. In 2014, she was awarded TALENTE Prize and selected for several important awards, such as Schmuck (2019), Staatspreis und Förderpreis für das Kunsthandwerk Rheinland-Pfalz (2019), European Prize for Applied Arts (2018), etc.