BIJOUTERIE — Ornament in Excess

BIJOUTERIE XII — Ornament in Excess belongs to Gela Mikava’s BIJOUTERIE series, which examines adornment as a structure of identity, visibility and social representation. A frontal female figure emerges from a dense green-black field. Her face is rendered through thin, unstable layers of pale green, grey and muted flesh tones. The features remain visible but withdrawn, as though the individual were gradually receding into the painted surface. Two monumental pink earrings descend beyond the face and occupy almost the entire height of the composition. Their saturated colour, severe geometry and exaggerated scale transform them from accessories into commanding visual structures. Here, jewellery does not merely accompany the portrait—it reorganises it. The ornaments frame the body, compete with it and ultimately become more immediate than the person wearing them. Adornment shifts from a sign of identity into a form of excess capable of eclipsing the individual beneath it. Executed in acrylic and oil on linen canvas, this is a unique original painting accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.