Mari Funaki (1950 – 13 May 2010) was a leading contemporary jeweller, designer, metal-smith and sculptor. She was active from 1990 to 2010. Initially a jeweller, she moved towards "purely sculptural forms" from the late 1990s.

Biography

Funaki was born in Matsue, Shimane, Japan. She moved to Australia in 1979 and studied painting and gold and silversmithing at the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

(RMIT). In 1995 Funaki exhibited containers, containers for candles and gold jewellery in her exhibition ''Marie Funaki Metalwork'' in at the Crafts Council for the ACT. Work from this exhibition caught the attention of and was acquired by Jim Logan, the new assistant curator of Australian decorative arts at the National Gallery of Australia. Funaki was known for her distinctive arthropod-like brooches, rings and bracelets, which later merged into her large scale geometric sculptural works, some up to 6 metres tall. She started Gallery Funaki, Melbourne in 1995. The gallery was regarded as one of the "key world jewellery spaces" showcasing the work of leading Australian and international jewellers. In 2009, the Art Gallery of Western Australia held a solo exhibition ''Marie Funaki Works 1992–2009.'' Funaki produced a number of new works for this exhibition. The catalogue description of the exhibition explained:

"There is always a sense of danger in her work, as the spindly legs of her insect-like containers support unlikely, unwieldy torsos, and as her rings and bracelets cultivate miniature monoliths that play with scale and weight in fascinating ways".

In 2010, the National Gallery of Australia commissioned Funaki to create a sculpture for the entrance to the new Stage 1 building which included the Australian indigenous art galleries and the southern entrance. The sculpture ''Twilight'' was created in aluminium and finished with black polymer paint. Inspired by the

pukumani The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, w ...

burial poles of the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, wi ...

, Funaki said of this work:

"I like to make my forms stir people’s emotions or imagination. As an object maker I have always been interested in the interplay and dialogue between negative and positive, between volume and space, between inside and outside."

During the final stages of creating this sculpture with fabricator Robert Hook, Funaki became unwell and died in May 2010 after a long battle with cancer. A survey exhibition of her work was held at the National Gallery of Victoria in late 2010 ''Marie Funaki: Objects.'' The exhibition followed her work from the late 1990s to 2010, mapping her development from gold and mild steel wearable objects to pure sculpture. The exhibition highlighted Funaki's "brilliant inventiveness with line, mass, volume and space across various sculptural forms." Her geometric sculptures were described as "gravity defying" Funaki’s jewellery, objects and sculptures are held in private and public collections including the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Park, Sydney, Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle ...

, the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

and

Die Neue Sammlung Die Neue Sammlung is one of the leading design museums in the world, with the largest collection of industrial and product design. Founded in 1907 with the ideas of the German Werkbund, Die Neue Sammlung became an official state museum in 1925 ...

in Munich.

Awards

1996: Herbert-Hofmann-Preis 1999: Herbert-Hofmann-Preis

Legacy

In 2014 the Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery was founded. The

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

holds a collection of over 200 books and art catalogues

Biography

Awards

Legacy

Further reading

References

External links