When I was a little girl I used to love Barbie dolls. What charmed me about Barbies was the fact that you could style them as you wanted, combining clothes and accessories. One of my favourite items of clothing was a pink boatneck bat sleeve woollen top with a tiny oblong mother of pearl button fashioned as a brooch. The item (yes, I still have it!) was my aunt’s creation and won the approval of the entire family and neighbourhood. Barbie dolls were in my mind miniature mannequins that allowed you to experiment with different clothes, that was why I thought every single adult criticising them was completely crazy. I distinctly remember that one day a frustrated woman appeared on TV preaching how Barbie dolls were Satanic things and launching a pink coffin for Barbies, in which the doll could have been buried with her entire wardrobe. I must have been 9 year old at the time and thought this woman a) couldn’t grasp the iconic status of Barbie dolls; b) was a total bore; c) didn’t have any imagination and, above all, was a complete fascist, on par with my very fascist Italian grammar teacher who harshly criticised me for wearing in school three (very thin) rings (on three different fingers) as that was apparently too extravagant. Anyway, enough ranting about my life.
Barbie dolls must have had the same importance they had in my life for Margaux Lange. The American artist must have had a real fascination with Barbies if, as a grown up, she started making wearable art jewellery out of dismembered pieces of the iconic doll, mixing them with sterling silver, gold and plastic pigmented epoxy resin.
Lips, eyes and ears are used for bracelets and earrings, busts are encased in sterling silver hearts (and for every piece sold a $5 donation is made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure for breast cancer), arms are mounted in what looks like a tribal necklace, legs are turned into bangles and different parts of faces are dismembered and reused to recreate mask-like pins.
Lange’s most striking creations are the multi-eyed necklaces that feature little clusters of eyes quirkily staring from a silver pendant. “I am fascinated with Barbie as a cultural icon, her distinguished celebrity status, and the enormous impact she has had on our society,” Lange explains on her site.
“I’m intrigued with her influence in defining gender roles of women in contemporary American culture. I enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized. I take pleasure in the contrast and contradiction of something mass-produced being transformed and revealed as a unique, handmade, wearable piece of art.”
Lange’s Barbie jewellery was featured in various exhibitions in Cincinnati, Seattle, Chicago and New York and two of her pieces were chosen for inclusion in the volume Cool Green Stuff by Dave Evans featuring environmentally friendly fashions, jewellery, bags, gadgets and home décor, and in Martha Le Van’s 500 Necklaces, that includes a wide collection of contemporary works.
Margaux Lange’s jewellery is available on her site and on her Etsy page and will soon be available in the UK on Hannah Zakari’s site (more about it later on today).
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
http://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.80.15.js?boxxetId=u23036
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
http://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.160.30.js?boxxetId=u23036