Join contemporary jewelry artist Robert Baines for a humorous performative lecture and a Q&A on the occasion of the exhibition Fake News and True Love: Fourteen Stories by Robert Baines.

Jewels are the loveliness of truth, but conspiracy will always captivate when jewellery is the evidence. Authentic and bogus jewellery can reveal unexpected consequences. A crown for Vladimir Putin was unforeseen! The grandchildren of Buzz Aldrin never receiving their moonstones was shocking! The anticipation of Marilyn and Jack being together again is electrifying! Jewellery is the illusion of wonder, and a good story is no substitute. It captures spaces in the mind where folly soon pervades. It is a cornucopia of love, but beware: true love never ends. This lecture will unlock hidden truths and expose more false jewellery to believe in.

—Robert Baines

About Robert Baines

Australian goldsmith Robert Baines has shaped the fields of contemporary jewelry and jewelry history for over forty years. In 2010, he was named a Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft. In addition to teaching and maintaining his own contemporary jewelry practice, he studied ancient jewelry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and masterworks in several other international institutions. Through these experiences, he has essentially learned to brilliantly copy jewelry—from the ancient to the modern. Baines’ metalsmithing abilities and keen sense of humor make this a lecture not to be missed.