Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER

Jorge Manilla

"The Anatomy of Thoughts"

Jorge Manilla (Mexico / Belgium)

Jorge Manilla, the son of a family of Mexican goldsmiths and engravers, studied visual arts at the Academy of San Carlos, in Mexico. He received a highly technical jewellery training at the Academy of Craft and Design from the Mexican Institute of Fine Arts.

In 2003 He earned a Bachelor degree in sculpture at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent and one year later he enrolled at St Lucas University College of Art and Design where he got a Master degree in 2006 in Jewellery and Silversmithing

Currently Jorge Manilla is teaching in different Schools in Europe and abroad and he is doing his second year research project (PhD) at the Royal Academy Of Fine Arts in Antwerp Belgium.Since 2010 he has been leading workshops around the world and his works have been shown in several exhibitions and are collected in the five continents.

By creating jewellery Jorge Manilla investigates his environment - religion, emotions, relationships and the meaning of life.Over the last years the artist has rediscovered his love for the black colour. To the artist black relates to something hidden, the secretive and the unknown, and as a result it creates an air of mystery.

It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world. His dark forms and shapes create a barrier between the meanings of the objects and the outside world. Black implies self-control and discipline, independence and a strong will.

It gives an impression of authority and power. For Manilla black is the end, but the end always implies a new beginning. When light appears, black becomes white, the color of new beginnings.

"For me jewellery means more that just creating something with aesthetic value...
Making jewellery I can find a lot of posibilities to research and try to understand life.
I like to read about what happens in the world.
First I like to be informed about the situation in my country because this is always my first reference, afterwards I try to think in a philosophical way…
I try to understand the meaning of life, my life and others’ life
What are the values now?
What is important now and what is not?
What is beautiful, what is horrible?
Are meanings and definitions the same for you as for me?
I try to discover and understand important aspects of the human existence.
Religion, feelings, emotions, and relationships are elements that always inspire my work.
I want to create a personal visual and artistic language, my own way to share my thoughts
When viewing my work I invite the audience to go beyond the forms and experience the emotional content".

Jorge Manilla