For this piece, I wanted to push the contrast between the elements of the woman's body that appeared to not have had any surgical intervention (primarily her legs and hand) and those that had (her head and face). As a woman, I find the current trends in beauty, that is, to alter certain parts of the body and ignore others, both alluring and odd. And while I find it relatively easy to reject some of the trends, such as lip injections and botox, I do admit to getting in queue for the more traditional procedure of a facelift. And I wonder, would I be so keen to do that, if so many women around me were not?

Albeit, the most extreme examples we see seem to come in droves out of southern California, the home of the entertainment industry, where image and looks seem to rule everything. So in keeping with extremes, I used a fictional Hollywood darling, enamored by her own beauty, and lost in self-indulgence.

On a formal level, I chose hues that paralleled the two extremes to underscore my statement. I used gruesome monster-esque greens entwined with dark grey for her "real" body parts, and manufactured fluorescent pinks for the areas that were surgically altered or fake.

The work was done on 11.5 oz cotton duck canvas coated with two layers of acrylic gesso before painting. The piece is painted in acrylic.

An icon of popular culture, and American doll turned cult leader of contemporary women’s beauty ideals, there is no second to Barbie. So, what better subject to aid in my twisted satirical attempts to illuminate the pitfalls of the human psyche that, if unrecognized, corrupt our view of what is reality.
It’s doubtful Ruth Handler or Mattel deliberately crafted a children’s toy to be anything more than a good seller. But can we say the same for the enormous marketing campaigns for cigarettes that romanticized their product to ensnare those who wanted to “be cool” or “fit in” into a net that led so many to their suffering deaths.
How keen are we really to the incentives of those around us, or the props and story lines which test our agility to assess an alluring illusion?
And how do we learn to inventory the liabilities of the human mind so to avoid that tunnel vision so intent on blocking out the very details we shouldn’t ignore?

Perhaps that same tunnel vision is a necessary defense mechanism, put in place to protect us from too much information before we have built the strength to endure it, set to dissolve as we go through life and the wisdom from our experiences replaces our need for its crutch. Or perhaps it’s a requirement of our individualized (pre-selected) human missions that put the insights of a good life- lesson above all other considerations?

In this piece, Barbie Moon Landing, I thought it fitting to use the seductive pink of the original influencer, dressed for the beach, as she catches a selfie in front of the Lunar Module “Eagle.” Is she on the moon? Or is she in a Hollywood set?

One day when I was a kid, my mother brought home a couple of humorous little wooden dolls. One of them was a little green man smoking half a dozen cigarettes at one time, with a sign that popped out of his head that read “Gotta Quit Tomorrow”. My version, whose name is inspired by that Popsies Doll, is a tad more cynical. For my late mother."

These little creatures fits perfectly in your hand and are always there for you, whatever support you may need:) One for each hand!

This little creature fits perfectly in your hand and is always there for you, whatever support you may need:)