Another Artist With The Same POV: BCXSY's Golden Glory

above: detail from BCXSY's Golden Glory project

This is the third post about a group of artists to make a point about mass consumerism by gold-plating mundane objects.

How long is an eternity?
How does one quantify the unquantifiable?
What is the span of one day compared with endless time and space?

BCXSY is pleased to present FOREVER! - a collection of uniquely individual and materially rich products that explores how the function, aesthetics, and emotions of design can help to define the indefinable.

In an era of mass production and haste, BCXSY slows down and takes a closer look at what it means to last FOREVER!

Above is how artists Cohen and Yamamoto describe their work titled Forever!

"Golden Glory" Materials: mass-produced plastic toys and everyday objects - hand gilded with 23.75k gold-leaf, acrylic-glass plate.








As described by the artists:

"The exclusive one-offs that comprise GOLDEN GLORY explore the necessity of cherishing meaningful objects. Through the laborious art of hand-gilding, common plastic novelties and generic trinkets transcend the realm of the mass produced and meaningless and become truly remarkable modern day keepsakes."

Consisting of several subsets, Golden Glory is only a small part of the Forever! project. But it's the part that echoes other art works and limited produced pieces, specifically those of Tobias Wong and Big Game.


Above: Tobias Wong's gold McDonald's coffee stirrer from his "Indulgences" collection.


Above: Big Game's New Rich Gold Bic Pen Cap

Don't get me wrong, I'm not pointing this out to imply that their work is not entirely original or worth exploring, on the contrary. I just think it's interesting how many artists have gilded mundane and mass produced objects as either a way to mock or reflect society or- as in this case- to illustrate the transformation of a common object to a treasured one. When considered, what makes an item 'treasured' has really been defined by that which society considers valuable, in this case the luxe of gold. Hence, the artists are all basically saying the same thing.

Tobias Wong's Little Indulgences and Big Game's New Rich projects both gilded mass produced items. Read and see all about them here.


about BCXSY

(photograph: Sheri Avraham)

BCXSY is a cooperative between designers Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto. BCXSY has several other wonderful projects and pieces worth seeing, be sure to check them out here.

"New Rich" & "Indulgences" : Two Different Collections, One Message

Two Different Groups of Artists Mock Consumers' Obsession With Luxury
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A collection by Big-game for +41


Above; Elric Petit, Augustin Scott de Martinville and Grégoire Jeanmonod met at ECAL, in Lausanne. Respectively Belgian, French and Swiss, they developed a common approach and soon they formed a close team and in 2004, Big Game was born.

After the success of their first collection “HERITAGE IN PROGRESS” in 2005, Big-game came back with a new collection presented at the Köln imm fair in 2006.

Once again, the members of Big-game surprise us by creating a series of jewels for +41, a young Swiss fashion brand with a stellar reputation amongst the connoisseurs.

In their latest collection, Big-game questions the meaning of accessories and offers new alternatives to jewelry. This series of objects entitled “NEW RICH” results from the confrontation between mass products and luxury.

NEW RICH (as described by the artists)- Mass products meet luxury

When gold replaces plastic, democratic and functional objects become exclusive in a subtle way.
“We’ve picked standard, universal products, and replaced a part of each object by an equivalent in gold”, explains Elric Petit. “We love the shrewd blend between the down-to-earth functionalism of mass-products and the ultimate precious material: gold”

The scenography of Big-game’s exhibition in Köln reflects this ambiguity as it is inspired by black-market peddlers. The black suitcase that serves as a display stand for the objects is regularly carried around the fair grounds to meet visitors.

“Why buy a luxury lighter when you can have a deluxe BIC lighter?” asks Grégoire Jeanmonod. "Pimp your Bic pen, Apple headphones, Bic lighter, Swatch watch, brummagem jewellery and drawing pins with the “New Rich” collection!"



The Swatch has democratized watches as it offered a reliable and affordable alternative to luxurious timepieces. Here, Big-game substitutes a simple loop on the wristband by a golden version, making the object exclusive.



The BIC ball-point pen is an icon of democratic design. “We love the cap” explains Augustin Scott de Martinville, “it’s such a strong recognition factor”. Big-game’s version of the pen has a golden cap and – as it emerges from the pocket of its owner – becomes a jewel mocking luxury pen.



Over the last few years, the white Apple headphones have become an archetype. Here, Big-game replaces the plastic component holding together the two earphones by a golden one. This part thus becomes a pendant.



A plastic piece of jewellery can have some true qualities but will always suffer from a mediocre image. With the golden price tag, it suddenly becomes a truly valuable object!



Playing with the tradition of lighters being luxury objects, Big-game exchanges the BIC lighter’s plastic push-button with a golden one. This well thought mass-product becomes exclusive while staying functional.



Using push pins is the simplest way to fix something on the wall. Why choose a complicated solution in the name of luxury? A golden push pin will do!

contact@big-game.ch

Switzerland:
Big-game
11, Rue du Nord
CH-1004 Lausanne
Suisse
+41 76 492 89 27

Belgium:
Big-game
1, Rue d’Andenne
B-1060 Bruxelles
Belgique
+32 478 37 82 09


Now, Big Game is not the only creative minds to marry luxury with mass marketing. When it comes to creating products that mock consumerism and society's obsession with wealth and luxury it's hard to top Tobias Wong and Ken Courtney (aka Ju$t Another Rich Kid).



Tobias Wong and Ju$t another Rich Kid had created similar items based on a similar philosophy.
They call their collection "Indulgences"

Tobias Wong with fellow designer Ken Courtney, of Ju$t Another Rich Kid fame, also combined well-recognized symbols of mass consumption with qualities associated with wealth, luxury, and excess.



The duo took McDonald's classic coffee stirrer as well as the Playboy Bunny Swizzle Stick, both of the '70s — and notoriously used as drug paraphernalia — and cast them in gold, drawing attention befitting to their lesser known use.

Below are their Coke Spoon 1 and Coke Spoon 03, gold examples of everyday items also recognized as drug paraphenalia.




Other products include a Murdered Skull Pendant with diamond teeth, and capsules of gold flakes that when ingested turn excrement into gold.





Tobias Wong and Ju$t Another Rich Kid's products (coke spoon, swizzle sticks, murdered skull pendant and pills) are actually available for purchase at the following places, just click on the name to go:

Matter NY
Moss
Citizen:Citizen

Despite mocking the consumer, there's irony in the fact that people shell out a couple hundred bucks for these pieces of 'art', further illustrating the philosophy behind them.