Gray areas : an exploration of metalwork in a contemporary context

Abstract: Ever since art and craft was separated there has been an ongoing schism between the two. The craft movement has been showed out of the fine art galleries and museums and has been left with country fairs and second handed rated galleries for exhibiting their work. This has created insecurity within the realm of craft. Left artists doubting themselves and the importance of their work and has led to an immensely boring debate which, for the past hundred years has debated whether craft and fine arts could or should be regarded as equal artistic manifestations. Maybe the importance no longer lies in trying to manically copy the fine art scene. But for once and for all, claim the space our work deserves in a contemporary environment, far away from rigid artistic boarders and a language that lacks all the right words. This essay investigates what it means to work in the periphery, in the gray areas of contemporary artistic metal making today and why the view on work in craft media is looked upon as handicraft and not art.