Combining jewelry materials in her installations and portraits Mari Keto (b. 1975, lives and works in Copenhagen) explores the limits of artifacts. In Keto’s works both the conceptual underpinning and a high degree of craftsmanship merge into an artwork. Keto’s work is strongly research-based and she engages with her subject matter from various perspectives in order to define her own. Deriving from cultural histories and pop culture her work examines the distinctions between value and consumption. Keto’s multilayered works contain intemperate realism mixed with humor and irony. Keto composes her works of diamonds, crystals, pearls and other jewellery material as she is intrigued by the fine line between sustainability and perishableness. She selects the crafting technique, varying from tanning of leather to blacksmithing iron, boiling earth paint to casting gold, cutting stones to etching metals, depending on the essence of the work.
Mari Keto graduated from Copenhagen’s Institute for precious metals in 2008. She has also a degree as an art blacksmith from Pirkanmaa vocational institute. Keto’s works are widely exhibited and internationally awarded and in 2012 Keto was invited to compose a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen Margrethe II, which was exhibited at her presence at the Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark.
