Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Art of Barbie

Last summer my parents gave Kira a really awesome book. (Well, *I* think it's awesome.) It's called The Art of Barbie: Artists Celebrate the World's Favorite Doll. (edited by Craig Yoe) The cover is a piece by Andy Warhol.



There are some terrific pieces in here. You've seen Nude Descending a Staircase? Well, here's Marian Jones's interpretation of Nude Barbie Descending a Staircase:



We have Barbie at the Beach:



Barbie and What's His Name Get Married
(sometimes the title alone was enough for me to love it):



In a tribute to some truly fine cinema, we have Attack of the 50-Foot Barbie:



A personal favorite:



Vidal Sassoon got into the act with Good Hair Day:



I actually really like this interpretation of the myth of Daphne (who was turned into a laurel tree to escape the amorous attentions of Apollo) in Daphne Barbie:



And Willow, here's one just for you:



Some others I didn't include in my first round of pictures include a photo of Claudia Schiffer as Wanna-B, Barbie digitally inserted into Edward Hopper's Nighthawks painting, Barbie on the walls of the caves at Lascaux. Even Frederick's of Hollywood threw a little something in, although truthfully that one didn't look a heck of a lot different from the tarty way Barbie dresses anyway.

Anyway, this is just one more of my many ways to avoid what I should be doing, namely housework. Having now successfully delayed said chores until 12:30, it's time for lunch. mk

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that French Fries?

markira said...

Yup. mk

Anonymous said...

Love it ! My mother-in-law collects Barbies...great idea for her birthday present. Thanks.
The LadyBug post is precious.

Anonymous said...

Finally I can post on here. Pickled Barbie is my fave.

Anonymous said...

Oh my God, I love it. I would totally buy that.

Anonymous said...

Love it! I'll have to check that book out. In college I wrote a paper on Barbie as a post-Freudian superwoman (because, you know, Ken isn't anatomically correct) and the topic inspired one of my friends for a photo project.

Kathleen Fogarty said...

Hey, could you give me the artist information for the Daohne barbie? I'm doing a project in school in which I have to analyze artwork relating to the story, and this Barbie is perfect!

markira said...

Kathleen, the artist is Mel Odom. The piece is titled "Daphne Barbie," done in mixed media (obviously), with a size of 38.1 x 30.5 x 25.4.

More information about the artist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Odom_(artist)

Good luck with your project! Let me know how it turns out...mk

Kathleen Fogarty said...

Ah, thank you sooo much!!!