Ray Anne:
I absolutely love your Barbie and Ken as Librarians "press release." You
could always get a great paying job writing ad copy. Barbie and Ken are very
complicated objects. I'm really glad to have Amy Ciccone's information about
the origin of Ken, as well as your concept. As you may know, Barbie and Ken
have been the subject of several exhibitions and many artists'
interpretations. Years ago we tried to develop a Barbie exhibition at the
Craft and Folk Art Museum. We thought that the controversy surrounding her
(and the fact that she is such a huge collecting rage) would make such a show
a big success--I still think so. It never got off the ground; the powers
that be were too afraid of the potential controversy, though it did become
part of a larger show called "Dress Codes" that traveled to the Smithsonian's
Experimental Gallery in the early 90s. Part of the problem is Mattel's
militant anti-interpretation stance. A scholar named (I think) Steven Dubin
has written some really good essays on the topic. He had written an
exhibition catalog essay for an exhibition that was approved by MattelI, but
his essay was purged before the catalog was published. I will add your email
to my small collection of Barbiana.
Joan Benedetti
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