Trick or Trait

The double-faced features of bling-bling. This is the first monograph on the art of Maartje Folkeringa (1978), a mid-career, upcoming Dutch artist, whose sculptural work sets out for the non-verbal forms of tactile communication in our behaviour and social interaction. Through the choice for specific materials and the way they are processed into totems of status, this physical body of work humanises the popular and high-end finery with which we rank ourselves and others through the lens of art. It plays with the totems by which we (un)consciously postulate our social hierarchy, allowing both the positioning of the art-object and the signalling of our status. This book is a must-have for those who wonder what they must have. Both suggested and framed as a cut-and-paste sourcebook full of inspiration and proposals towards artistic endeavour, this book is designed with colourful respect for grandeur and subversive exclusivity, featuring enthusiastic lively texts that explore qualities in life and sculpture simultaneously.