On the occasion of EDIT 2021, the Museo del Tesoro di San Gennaro, Naples, hosted Daniel Kruger's solo exhibition curated by Marco Bazzini.
Born in South Africa, Daniel Kruger moved to Germany in the 1980s, first to Berlin and then to Munich, where he currently lives and works. He began his artistic activity in the 1970s, immediately focusing on the field of contemporary jewelry. Contemporary jewelry, while retaining the rich craftsmanship of goldsmithing, uses modes of expression that have been traceable in contemporary art for more than fifty years now. He later expanded his mode of operation by investigating the world of ceramics, obtaining equally original results.
His focus has always been on the theme of folk cultures, although his creations never present ethnic characters, in the scientific sense of the term. Kruger is not interested in anthropological research, rather he is attracted to the theme of ornament as a common denominator between different and distant cultures. His interest as an artist is to identify that subtle common thread that in a new freedom of expression manages to synthesize the ancient and the contemporary and shows how all cultures have always had in ornament a unifying and inclusive element.
It is possible to trace an absolute and subtle commonality of intent between the ex-votos offered to San Gennaro by the Neapolitan people in thanksgiving and the Amulets made by Kruger. The Amulets, on display at the Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro, are invocations: they serve to ward off adverse events or to propitiate goodwill, in a belief between the sacred and the profane. Pendants made with small ritual objects and high symbolic value, with stones with an alchemical and healing flavor such as amber, malachite or coral. Kruger plays with the dark sides, with the taboos of the individual and society. Daniel Kruger's work with ceramics springs from the same intentions. Of this, too, Kruger traces the history of the utensil and often precious decorative object. His interest is primarily in the decoration of flat vessels with traditional forms. The ancient decorations of athletes depicted on Greek or Etruscan vases are replaced by figures of contemporary men, as in the series dedicated to soccer players, as continuers of the ancient concept of beauty.
The iconic beauty of the divine Maria Callas, who stunned audiences in great theaters and enlivened worldly chronicles, is celebrated in an articulate serving of plates, trays and soup bowls. The theoretical and intellectual content and high technical expertise show that in his work hand and thought proceed hand in hand. Each piece is unique, just as each piece is the result of a particular story or experience, often autobiographical.