Checking in with Cong Ma

A lot more than 100 intercontinental artists applied for this year’s Youthful Artist Award. Cong Ma was preferred as a person of the finalists. She obtained an unrestricted hard cash award of US$1,000 and exhibited her get the job done in Platina’s booth at Schmuck, in July 2022.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Group — Cong Ma, Great Artwork 101 Team, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, great silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

AJF’s Young Artist Award acknowledges assure, innovation, and individuality, advancing the careers of growing artists. The competitors was open to makers of wearable artwork age 35 and underneath who are not at present enrolled in a experienced coaching plan. Judging was based on originality, depth of strategy, and high-quality of craftsmanship. This year’s jurors have been 2020 AJF Artist Award winner MJ Tyson (US) collector and gallerist Karen Rotenberg (US) and educator and curator Chequita Nahar (The Netherlands).

Ma’s work represents a team of exceptional pieces of up to date jewellery. We questioned her to explain to us a little bit about her qualifications and feelings on the upcoming of the area.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Fruit — Cong Ma, Good Art 101 Fruit, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, great silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, image: Shawn Zhang

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Polytope — Cong Ma, High-quality Artwork 101 Polytope, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, great silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang

Bonnie Levine: Congratulations on staying one particular of the five finalists for the 2022 Younger Artist Award. What an accomplishment! Please introduce oneself to our viewers. How did you become fascinated in jewelry? What evokes your get the job done?

Cong Ma: I am a painter, a jewelry maker, and a designer. Born to a family of artists, I have been drawing at any time given that I could select up a pen. I observed my interest in artwork jewelry because it is a exclusive artwork form unbiased of any functionality however near to the folks carrying it.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Ring — Cong Ma, Wonderful Art 101 Ring, 2021, sterling silver, brass, high-quality silver, acrylic paint, 95 x 22 x 1 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang

What does remaining a finalist imply for you? Do you imagine it will influence you likely ahead?

Cong Ma: Becoming a finalist makes me want to adhere with artwork jewellery. I see the creativeness among all the finalists, and I am grateful to be connected to this local community, primarily right after a submit-COVID period of climbing technology and quarantine. By staying in this community, my consciousness will continue to keep up with the occasions, and that is vital to an artist’s growth.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Necklace — Cong Ma, Good Art 101 Necklace, 2021, sterling silver, brass, good silver, acrylic paint, 300 x 34 x 58 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang

Convey to us about the work you used with.

Cong Ma: I see jewellery as a implies to an conclude for understanding about all types of information that desire me. My desire in geometry and increased dimensions motivated this overall body of work. For case in point, a 3-dimensional ball heading as a result of a two-dimensional matter would show up to be a circle increasing and then obtaining more compact till it disappears. Likewise, a 90-diploma angle intersecting a slanted floor unfolded onto a two-dimensional airplane is no more time 90 levels. These are fascinating observations and phenomena. I would like to convey these illusions by way of my function in an summary way.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cross Cone — Cong Ma, Fantastic Artwork 101 Cross Cone, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, fine silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, picture: Shawn Zhang

What excites you about the artwork jewelry field?

Cong Ma: I get pleasure from making artwork jewelry simply because of the flexibility it provides me to discuss about any matter in the world that pursuits me in meaningful methods.

Any frustrations that you see or have expert?

Cong Ma: The romance concerning my artwork and me is pretty normal. Every time I have an thought, I can know about 90% of that thought, and I am normally pleased. If there at any time were being any frustrations, it may possibly be that I would like to study much more procedures in jewelry-building to be in a position to express much more of my suggestions. But that would need some time and commitment to mastering in the future.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 Cubicle — Cong Ma, Fantastic Artwork 101 Cubicle, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, fantastic silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, picture: Shawn Zhang

Exactly where do you feel art jewelry is going? Do you see any new and enjoyable trends?

Cong Ma: I consider the art jewellery industry going in several methods. First, for the reason that the viewers is rather little compared to other art fields, it could have the prospective to improve quite big, to the extent that its definition becomes ambiguous. It could possibly merge with manner, furniture, or engineering in the form of game titles and NFT, which 1 can never dress in. So persons may possibly not want a bodily piece to don and contact jewelry, but they could have an urge to affiliate, fantasize, and in the end categorical.

Cong Ma, Fine Art 101 (detail) — Cong Ma, Great Art 101 (detail), 2021, brooch, sterling silver, fine silver, acrylic paint, 30 x 30 x 40 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang

Where would you like to be five several years from now?

Cong Ma: I want to go on to consider about art jewelry philosophically. As a result of my very own activities and exposures, I can develop a mature concept in layout. I see it in the kind of a treatise where I would systematically analyze my views and have my artworks mirror people tips.

Congratulations again! Thank you for having the time to reply these queries.

This is the previous of our interviews with the honorees. Browse the interview with Young Artist Award winner Mallory Weston here. Our interview with finalist Taisha Carrington is in this article. Look at out Marion Delarue’s interview in this article. You’ll obtain our interview with Aaron Decker right here.