Jim Kempner’s ‘Bling’ Exhibit Features Statement Pearls

NEW YORK—Earlier this month, “Bling” opened at Jim Kempner Fine Art and the occasion called for pearls. The exhibit celebrates flash and ostentation—essentially all things bling. Jerelyn Hanrahan‘s 50-foot long strand of pearls is the show’s centerpiece and the gallery has maximized its impact by displaying the large-scale necklace in its outdoor sculpture garden.

The pearls were first installed at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park at Oyster Bay in Long Island, N.Y., as an interactive sculpture serving as a public bench.

A comment on society’s obsession with wealth and materialism, ‘Bling’ includes a range of interpretations of the theme from more than two dozen artists, Carole Feuerman, John Grande, Sally Heller, Damien Hirst, Tom Slaughter, Andy Warhol and Kehinde Wiley, among them.

“Bling” runs from Feb. 9 to March 17, 2012.

All photos by Arts Observer

“Graduated Pearls,” 2011 (cast Portland concrete, white sand and resin UV coat, rope) by Jerelyn Hanrahan.