Saturday 8 December 2007

Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus

Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus (Latin: Perfect Dolls and Scarred Human Beings) 2005
Some of these pieces are soon to be exhibited in a retrospective exhibition in Greestone gallery.

This work was an archaeology of stereotypes. Barbie is obsolete. She is over fifty years old, yet she never ages. The work firstly questions the stereotypical toys that are contrived to fit girls and boys into certain moulds. It also included but not pictured, a Greek carved version and a mummified version of Action Man. Retrospectively it relates to Foucault and Baudrillard's precession of the simulacra. These dolls have been aged according to their indestructibility; the plastic they are made from is largely non-biodegradable. In imagining how many Barbie dolls are thrown away, and the time it will take for them to decompose, a future scenario is imagined whereby archaeologists could dig these up and then try to reconstruct human civilisation based on these alone.







This theory was also speculated by the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick;
"Phil found Barbie and Ken and endless source of fascination. He tried to imagine what future archaeologists would make of them and how they would reconstruct our civilisation based on these artifacts alone."

I Am Alive And You Are Dead: A Journey Inside The Mind Of Philip K Dick Emmanuel Carreres.

The knowledge of this was discovered two years after these dolls were made.



Tritus cassis
h 33cm w 8cm plastic, glaze, acrylic
part of my 2005 exhibition entitled Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus (Latin: Perfect Dolls and Scarred Human Beings.)


Homo simulacracea
h 19cm w 17cm clay, acrylic, card





1 comment:

Unknown said...

I never thought about this! Interesting!