Unearthed: Mens' Jewelry from Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons

When I was a little girl, I used to sneak in episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series. I imagined my mom's antique jade jewelry carrying decades old curses and that my dad's ancient Samurai armor guarding our front door would one day rip my head off in the night. Ah, kids and their imagination. It wasn't until I was introduced to Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons jewelry line that these memories of unholy jewelry and wicked relics bubbled up in my brain.

Reminiscent of something out of an HP Lovecraft novel, each unique piece created by Black Sheep and Prodigal Son's designer, Derrick Cruz, is carefully laid in a dusty, hollowed-out bible. You can almost smell the sea or the forest on them. Cruz's jewelry has weight and narrative; his pieces feel like they were exhumed from watery depths or passed down from weathered palm to weathered palm. The real question about these little treasures is—do they come from good or evil? I posed this and other questions to Mr. Cruz.

I consider your work romantic goth. I noticed that you don't like the obvious goth connection — so how would you describe your aesthetic?
While goth is fine and good, I tend to associate that with seeking a sense of identity and community. This work is not about that. It's more about contemplating individual experiences and how they collide to make something new. I'd call it Bitter Sweet.

Before we get into it, I need to know the significance of your name!
The phrase Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons jumped out at me while reading Kafka was the Rage by Anatole Broyard. I sympathize with this story.

When I left Brooklyn to live in the Village, I felt as if I had acquired a new set of relative...uncles I had never met before...men who lived in odd places...who had shunned family life and been shunned in turn, who were somewhere between black sheep and prodigal sons of a paradoxical kind. An aura of scandal, or at least of ambiguity, hovered over these uncles...there was a flaw in their past, some kind of unhealthiness, even a hint of insanity...my favorite writers...i felt them waiting, almost calling out to me...they were all the family I had now, all the family I wanted. With them I could lead a hypothetical life, unencumbered by memory, loyalties, or resentments.

Tell me a little about your packaging—why the bibles? It seems you set up a narrative for each piece and follow it through with obsessive detail—the impact of your jewelry lies in both its physical beauty and the story that you have poured into it. Where do you come up with the history behind each piece or do you leave that up to the wearer?
I have some heartfelt reasons for it all, but it would be awful to rob people of a personal connection with the objects by saying too much. It's like a stage with a few good props—add your story.

What is your artistic process?
Jotting down thoughts, talking over coffee, careful people watching, reading, sketching, obsessing over details, hours staring at the ceiling—that's most of my process. It then turns personal, and after that synchronicity takes over. I start to see ideas connecting. Strange things begin to happen that are too coincidental. Later, I'll sit down and just start making things.

Tell us a little about your fascination with animals and the importance of symbolic imagery?
The animals I chose or invented are stoic and sensitive, yet physically powerful. They are strong by themselves, and some are archetypes of outcasts seeking redemption. If they were people, they'd have to tread kindly to avoid being manipulative.

Where did you learn scrimshaw?
I'm a painter by training, but taught myself to scrim. I've always admired the eloquence of hand etched lines and grittiness of the craft. A scratch on ivory is like a chisel to a stone.

Do contemporary art/movies/music interest you? Or are you attracted more to things from the past?
New work is nothing without the old. It's one thing to me. My favorite new art is art that seems relevant. Though I take my cues from the past, the way I work is a reaction to my distaste for the lack of sensuousness of computerized design. I think people crave the connectedness that comes from seeing the artist's hand in the things they buy. Perhaps that makes it relevant.

What kind of man/woman are you targeting (if you target anyone at all)?
I'd like it if you wore one. I'd love it if your mother did.

Person (alive or dead) you'd love to see wearing your jewelry and why is he/she the perfect fit?
There is this really amazing Puerto Rican musician, Robi Draco Rosa (I'm Puerto Rican, born in Brooklyn, raised in PR). I emailed him and offered to send him something. I don't know anyone else in NYC who likes his music, but he's both darkness and light. I painted for a year listening to one of his albums. When I was about to start working on BSPS, I put on the live CD I got while visiting my grandma. I got a lot of work done. Man, there is something there that really gets me.

I could have just said something hip like Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Ryan Gosling. I like those guys too. I did give one to Crispin Glover at one of his film screenings.

How did you become a jewelry maker? What was the turning point for you to pick jewelry as your form of artistic expression?
I do lots of other things, but jewelry making is really liberating. I could sculpt anything and make it jewelry. At the same time, its decorative function takes it off the pedestal or gallery wall and lets an individual ponder it over time. I love that.

Why are men more apt to wear jewelry today than a few years ago? What's changed?
A recent exhibit on men's fashion at the Bryant Park Library puts things into perspective. Men were more daring with fashion in the past. It takes boldness and confidence to go back there and pull out something useful. Today we are free to use modernist and Victorian language all in the same visual sentence. Men are taking all that and redefining the male aesthetic to their advantage. I think it's about rediscovering that decoration is a legitimate and flexible form of expression.

Lastly, is goth still alive?
Black is great; mourn, but walk away with a smile.

For more, please visit http://www.blacksheepandprodigalsons.com

-Chako Suzuki