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artiststatement
I have captured small toy characters through the lens of a digital camera and then add text of what people now think of that specific toy. The text that is going to be displayed on the images is not “innocent” as a child but realistic and blunt.
The idea of involving toys came to me after a brief conversation where I was asked to describe my childhood. I remember playing with My Little Ponies, She-ra, and Barbie and those memories pushed me towards capturing toys projecting them to be larger than life. As I began to work on my exhibition, I surveyed different groups of people, each of them different from the other. I asked about their favorite toy, characteristics of those toys, and if the toys influenced their childhood in any way. I found that the boys favored G.I Joe and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The girls favored Barbie. They stated many as text opinions of what they thought of the toys, which I have incorporated into the images.
In order to create these pieces, I used a digital camera and enhanced them with Adobe Photoshop. I used text to convey my thoughts about these toys.
After looking at some the images and reading the text, the work will contradict some of the initial memories that we all had when we were younger. For example, the use of the text, “I hate Barbie, that bitch has everything”, is a comment that I am interested in because Barbie was placed on a pedestal and now that image shattered by what we have experienced or know. These comments are intended to question society’s opinion of toys and the fantasy of toys.
I was greatly inspired by the photographer Gina Garan who produced “The Blythe Style”. The Blythe Style is a collection of images featuring the doll Blythe. Blythe was created in 1972 only for a year-long monthly feature in Vogue Japan. It is the way that Garan has captured Blythe in all of her brilliant colors and outstanding backgrounds to make me as interested to use her idea in association with mine.
What movement inspires my work is Post-Modern Simulation, the taking of an idea out of its realm and placing it directly in front of the viewer at a different perspective.
Female or male toys still serve the same purpose, to amuse, to entertain, and to teach. The toys possess a larger than life image. With their “super powers” and strengths, that made them more appealing than our own lives. We played with these toys and they became our heroes. As we grew older, these objects and their power begin to fade and we look at them as small objects that are no longer fascinating as they once used to be.