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Brooches-collages, with the effigy of characters from the filmsFantasia and Bambi by Walt Disney, plastic figurines adorned with imitation pearls, rhinestones and bells, circa 1980, unique pieces

 

Bibliography:

-Fantasies, chic and fake jewelry, Jane Mulvagh, Editions du Chêne, 1989, pages 131 and 185

 

The American Wendy Gells, experimented with the glue gun to make her jewels-collages in the 80s. "The principle of my creations", she explains, "is to cover the entire available surface with a jewel ". This horror of the void leads her to cover her bracelets, brooches, mirrors, table glasses, Victorian dolls with a kaleidoscope of artificial stones, plastic cherubs, imitation pearls, and leather.

Gellmania has overwhelmed the United States where collectors of its unique and vernacular pieces are numerous. Portable or sculptural, his creations have even served to decorate the dining room table of a whimsical American collector. One of his necklaces, named Landing Strip, depicts a landing strip overflown by eleven planes, in crystal and rhinestones, poetic and humorous evocation of very artistic kitsch . Wendy Gells even went so far as to graft a bromeliad on the bark of a tree to obtain red flowers at Christmas time and integrate it into bracelets, conceptual and artistic quintessence of her passion for the "living" jewel.

Wendy Gells, Mickey and Pan Pan brooches

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