Misha Kahn (Duluth, Minnesota, 1989) is an artist based in New York, a versatile creative with an experimental approach to materials, moving fluidly across different media and techniques while testing their expressive potential. From artisanal craftsmanship to found materials, from manual practices to advanced technologies, his creative universe expands in multiple directions, encompassing paintings, sculptures, and design objects. Described by critics as a maximalist, a hallmark of his work is the exuberance of colors and materials, developing into a seemingly chaotic, yet carefully orchestrated, array of amorphous forms.

A physical phenomenon – fluid statics – gives the title to his exhibition at BABS Art Gallery. The convex meniscus is the shape water assumes in a container when cohesion between its molecules prevails over adhesion to the walls: instead of perfectly sticking to a surface, the liquid gathers on itself, forming a small mound. There is thus an internal tension in water, the force of adhesion, which the artist observes and translates into his works. This is the case with the earring The Last Drop, which captures the moment when, just after a shower, a still-dripping droplet clings to the earlobe, suspended between two opposing forces: gravity and adhesion.

His phantasmagoric aesthetic is nourished by meticulous observation of materials and the physical forces acting upon them, creating works that seem to come from a distant elsewhere, yet are firmly rooted in physical reality and the collective imagination. The bracelet Under the Sea (Dark Unknown), made of colored titanium, alternates warm salmon-pink tones with deep blues, enriched by mother-of-pearl, citrine quartz, and a small diamond. The piece resembles a mysterious artifact retrieved from the ocean depths, its forms shaped by the gentle, flowing motion of water.

From the ocean’s depths, the gaze moves to the vastness of space, with a series of works inspired by contemporary desire to colonize the cosmos. Their cratered surfaces, marked by ridges and cavities resembling miniature geological landscapes, evoke the topography of celestial bodies. The titles – Rhea, Dione, Iapetus, Tethys, Enceladus, Titan – refer to moons orbiting Saturn. Among these, Enceladus, a palladium ring with a rippled silvery surface, recalls the icy environment of its namesake moon; set into the craters, blue topazes sparkle like tiny water mirrors. Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons, is the most imposing bracelet in the series, made of titanium and adorned with semi-precious stones.

In Misha Kahn’s jewelry, stones become liquid: polished to mimic the shape of water, they appear as small, clear droplets. Here, the artist plays with the perceptual affinity between gemstones and water. For evolutionary reasons, the human brain is naturally drawn to shiny objects, instinctively associating them with fresh water. Semi-precious stones, appearing as immobilized liquid, evoke the same sensory satisfaction we feel when confronted with something vital to life. A distinctive trait of his art is the metamorphosis of materials: the artist challenges their plastic potential, making them visually “lie,” subverting the viewer’s sensory expectations. In the ring Stuck, this “aesthetic prank” is particularly evident: an oversized chalcedony and lapis lazuli stone, swollen like a balloon, seems ductile and rubbery, squeezed between the prongs of its setting.

Although Menisco Convesso is his most accomplished project dedicated to wearable art, it is not Kahn’s first foray into jewelry. On display at the gallery, alongside pieces created specifically for BABS Art Gallery in collaboration with master goldsmith and artist Matteo Bonafede, will be three works produced between 2018 and 2022 with Friedman Benda Gallery in New York: not merely wearable objects, but interactive devices inspired by pocket games for children, where tiny ruby and gold marbles slide through miniature mazes. The first of these projects, the ring Freewheeling Love, was conceived together with renowned artist-jeweler Giancarlo Montebello.

Misha Kahn’s creative universe, though at first glance it seems to open the door to a fantastical dimension, is not an escape from reality, but an invitation to experience it with renewed wonder. His formal exploration pushes established boundaries, testing the plastic potential of materials and leading them to unexpected consistencies. In doing so, his work deconstructs the forms and functions through which we, as viewers, have come to fix the objects inhabiting our lives, often confining them to the limits of their utility. His chromatic and material exuberance is not merely decorative, but an invitation to expand experience beyond mere functionality.