2010.24.6, Otto Künzli, "Gold Makes You Blind" bracelet, 1980

Created in unlimited edition from rubber impregnated with a gold ball, Otto Künzli's most well-known work is the Gold Makes Blind armpiece. The bracelet's simplicity in structure belies the complex concept behind the work - the fact that gold, for Künzli, had lost its symbolic quality. In Gold Makes You Blind, the gold ball is hidden from the viewer, and as a result the viewer is forced to "blindly" accept the fact that it is there. 

Of his changing relationship to the material, Künzli once stated, "In 1980 I stopped using gold for a while because of considerations like these, social changes in the late 1970s and certain personal experiences. I wanted to achieve detachment in the hope that, after a period of abstinence, I would be able to re-appraise gold. A final work with gold was created as a manifestation of this decision: a bangle of black rubber, the interior consisting of a golden ball-like a snake with a small elephant in its belly. It was time for gold to return to the darkness."

Kevin W. Tucker, DMA unpublished material, 2010. 

Until 2010:  Collection of Deedie Rose, Dallas, Texas

From 2010:  Dallas Museum of Art, gift of above

MET Museum~See another example of a Otto Künzli, "Gold Makes You Blind" bracelet.

Apply to objects where number equals 2010.24.6