One of the more famous suppressed films of recent years is Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, an early work by writer/director Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven). Filmed in 1987, the short film -- which relates the rise and fall of Karen Carpenter with a cast of Barbie dolls -- barely got a year's worth of festival time in 1989 before the twin iron boots of A&M Records and Richard Carpenter came down on Haynes.* [more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Dec 31, 2011 -
29 comments
Kokeshi Dolls originated in North-East Japan as wooden toys for children. They began being produced towards the end of the Edo period (1603~1868) by woodwork artisans, called Kiji-shi, who normally made bowls, trays and other tableware by using a lathe. They began to make small dolls in the winter to sell to visitors who came to bathe in the many hot springs near their villages, which was believed to be a cure for the demands of a strenuous agricultural lifestyle. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Dec 19, 2011 -
20 comments
And here is
Ten Dreams, your
Symbolist,
Magical Realist, and
Metarealist brain/eye candy art source, featuring, among scores of many other artists and subjects,
Alma Tadema,
Bouguereau,
Ernst,
Hundertwasser,
Klimt, and
Maxfield Parrish, too. And then there is the
Ten Dreams of Ten Dreams, and not an exemplar known to me included.
[more inside]
posted by y2karl
on Mar 31, 2011 -
7 comments
After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark Hogancamp built a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populated the town he dubbed "
Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and created life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helped Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds from the attack.
[more inside]
posted by dobbs
on Mar 16, 2010 -
40 comments
The tradition of making
Japanese dolls, called ningyo—meaning human figure—goes back as far as 10,000 years to clay figures made during the Jomon period. The more recent rise in popularity, though, is most often traced to
Hina Matsuri--Girls' Day, or the Doll Festival, celebrated on March 3--originating during the Edo period. These
antique ningyo are highly sought after by
collectors, such as the American
expert Alan Pate, who has written a
number of articles on the subject. The modern Japanese doll culture, however, is anything but traditional. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ningyo tradition was exported to make
toys for the West (
previously featured on MeFi), and has culminated in popular Barbie-type dolls such as
Superdollfie and
others. Contemporary artists have transformed the Japanese doll tradition into something else entirely:
Simon Yotsuya,
Ryo Yoshida,
Koitsukihime,
Yoko Ueno,
Mario A.,
Etsuko Miura, and
Kai Akemi. A number of these artists were featured in the
Dolls of Innocence exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Of course, notable artists outside Japan have worked with dolls before, including
Hans Bellmer, who inspired much of the artwork in
Innocence, the follow-up to Ghost in the Shell. Explore more:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
[Several links are nsfw.]
posted by monju_bosatsu
on Mar 24, 2006 -
11 comments
Sure,
Scarlett O'Hara Barbie is lovely, and yeah,
Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz Barbie is cute, but for my money, it's hard to beat
Marge Simpson Barbie,
Medusa Barbie, or
Dominatrix Barbie. The full collection, located
here, clearly owes a debt to
Todd Haynes, and the
Barbie Liberation Army, but is still worth a chuckle.
posted by jonson
on Jun 21, 2003 -
7 comments
Hey guys, want to play with some manly paper dolls...er, I mean manly paper
action figures? You do? Rev up your printers and sharpen your scissors, then. You can download and play with your very own
Elvis or
Ziggy Stardust, or maybe
Billy Ray Cyrus, The Dead Milkmen's
PunkRockEr,
Bob Dylan,
Brad Pitt,
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Oliver from Green Acres,
Professor Henry Higgins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks'
Mr. Brown, the fetching dual poses of
Mr. Humphries from "Are You Being Served?",
Brave Colonists From Mars,
Trekkies,
Luke Skywalker and his tons of
cool duds,
Dylan Hunt from Andromeda,
Tom Sawyer,
Hercule Poirot,
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Neil Gaiman's
Morpheus, Monet's
Young John, or
Diego Rivera.
(more inside >>>)
posted by iconomy
on Mar 25, 2002 -
8 comments
