Anne Olsen Daub’s Extraordinary MULTI-FACETED at PVAC

Discover elegance in form and craftsmanship

Anne Olsen Daub has a rich imagination. The proof is in her detailed works and her own specialized craftsmanship for making jewelry and sculpture. One year in the making, her exhibition, Multi-Faceted on view at the Palos Verdes Art Center to April 13, is named perfectly. Anne’s creative reuse of antique and contemporary objects provokes imagination, while each object engages you to survey its unique charm, assemblage and even historical context.

After her well received show, Out of The Box at Michael Stearns Studio at The Lofts (Now Los Angeles Harbor Arts or LAHA) in 2021, Anne said she loved creating those big cardboard pieces. Indeed, the show was an indulgence where viewers could feel a child’s wonder via Frank Baum’s The Land of Oz.

This time, “I wanted to create unique oversized sculptures based on jewels, with a little bit of story behind them,” said Anne. “I enjoy making pieces that everybody can like.”

Moreover, these sculptures are substantial and are sourced from solid equipment. They are well thought out. Anne posited her background in fashion allows her to make all these pieces compliment each other.

Entering Multi-Faceted feels like you’ve found yourself in an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland dream. Climb the staircase to the first, Welsh Gallery, and you’re greeted by Some Look, a hand-beaded vintage pink velvet on wood antique convex mirror, which declares, “Many Look Very Few See.” The parts may be vintage but this piece — even its message —  parallels the contemporary human dilemma of social polarization; society’s alternate realities, like a mirrored world confusing us. What are we really seeing? Has technology obscured reality, in some ways taking us back in time, confounding human connection to our surroundings?

Continuing into reflections, discover several of Anne’s sparkling collage pieces displayed on the backs of mirrors. Through a semi-veiled, French countryside, Marie & Friends evokes a serene decadence, via the antiqued, worn mirror back juxtaposed with modern imagery from Sofia Coppola’s film, Marie Antionette. 

Anne’s Stories We Tell evinces Alice’s adventure. A midnight blue backdrop features a varied cast of miniature 19th-century figures: harlequins, witches, pirates, and cancans, amidst leather-bound books, gemstones, an upside-down garden and column, checkerboard floor, and a delicate floral trim.

As you enter the capacious Norris Gallery’s 1 and 2 an oversized array of items including gems, flowers, handbags, jewelry pieces and even a crown each simultaneously call your attention, engaging you. Multi-Faceted elicits wonder, play and pleasure. Anne has a discerning eye for gathering objects, both found and some she’s kept occupied in her collection over time. She has an innate skill to design pieces anew into both wearable and oversized adornments and new creations, each with individual personalities that fascinate. Indeed, Anne said Multi-Faceted is just a version of her jewelry she makes and “this [show] was pushing it.”

Her piece, Remembrance, is an homage to sculptor Tom Van Sant the “Grandfather of modern kite making.” Before Van Sant, kites were made with paper and wood. The designation was the result of Van Sant being the first to use Fiberglass tubing and nylon fabric, in the early ’70s. 

The piece is displayed on Van Sant’s self-portrait of the artist as a boy. (Collection of Anne and Eugene Daub). Remembrance made of nylon cord, wood beads and found objects is about, “everything we’ve drug with us,” said Anne. “The weight we carry.” Indeed, a cord of wooden beads follows down the back of Van Sant’s form and runs across the length of the gallery floor. “The red is powerful,” Anne said, referring to cords draped elegantly on the anterior of the form. Beside the forms foot sits a small black, metal house, signifying “dark house memories” of the form.

Opposite from this antique form you’re thrust into the late 20th century, circa 1980s with an oversized ring Veritas (metal band, corrugated paper, mirror, crystals mixed media) and handbag Canal Street, (corrugated paper, mixed media). The latter’s name describes, “where all the high-end rip-offs happen, such as with Louis Vuitton, Chanel etc. bags.

On a platform right next to this ostentation rests Temptation, appropriately, an apple. A beautiful one at that (corrugated paper, crystals mixed media). But it’s not red like the forbidden fruit — though its crystals are as ruby red as pomegranate seeds, as if sliced from this earthy apple with red flesh. A sight to behold. This fruit is a heavily shellacked golden brown and, look closely, you will find an outline of a hand holding the bottom of the fruit, as if in offering. 

In Norris Gallery 2, jewels abound, featuring gigantic earrings, Disco Queen (Vintage brass springs, disco balls vintage tiara), Diamond In the Rough (corrugated paper, glitter, crystal, mixed media) and a fabulous, giant ring hanging in the corner. Anne’s rings are made in part from wine barrel rings. She just happened to have them and decided “they are going to be rings,” (the jewelry kind). This one, just beaming from the corner is titled Madly Deeply (metal band, corrugated paper, found objects). The 28×28” ring has a setting of three silver orbs, each encased in a silver prong. The center one sits upon a gold starburst from which gold leaves extend laterally. All her rings have phrases on the bands; this one reads “In Perpetuum Amorem” or “together forever.”

The jewelry in Muti-Faceted will have you craving to wear it. Anne can create oversized art pieces and certainly jewelry to size, which many love to wear, some of which is on display — and for sale — in the gallery. Anne has also occasionally held pop ups with her jewelry in the past and will do so again. 

It is my wish that viewers and wearers alike will embark on their own personal journey of re-imagination. My goal is to provoke contemplation of the past while taking individuals to realms where the familiar becomes elevated and extraordinary.”— Anne Olsen Daub.

Give in to temptation for the divine and visit Anne’s exquisite creations in Multi-Faceted.

Details: www.pvartcenter.org and @anne_olsen_daub