Barbie and China Dolls and The Shapes of Time - Fiona Grossman          

Barbie and China Dolls and The Shapes of Time

The first exhibit, “Barbie and China Dolls,” focuses primarily on the identity of the female as well as her relationship to the stereotypical, “perfect” body of the Barbie doll. The artists participating in this exhibition are apparently intent on expressing, in both a suggestive and a humoristic way, the strength of this image by incorporating diverse media—from metaphysical energy to figurative shapes and bodies themselves.

Artist Caterina Arciprete, in particular, explores the tendencies of the body and mind as it exists without boundaries or limits by way of synthetic forms as well as through the body’s own natural shapes. Nearby, the colorful, broken Barbie dolls of Stefania Siragusa blow up next to Miazzo’s drawing works. Both expand into a magical world in which male and female move beyond the stereotypes of behavior. Since little girls everywhere are eager to dress just like Barbie, Ariel Vera focuses her photography work on the desire to be free of such false identities. Her naked Barbie figure flies in the sky wearing only pink wings. In this exhibition, too, Barbie dolls and China dolls live together in a unique world constructed within Verzeroli’s photos, like a cartoon.

In the obsessive worlds of Fabio Savoldi, on the other hand, a real Barbie takes a bath, but, instead of water, the tube is filled with pills or, as in another work by this same artist, a Barbie doll is on a table waiting for the doctor and for surgery. Both Barbies are set in Plexiglas boxes that appear like coffins. Carla Crosio’s Barbie seems to be vomiting and, in her photos, artist Marika Franco puts her Barbie upside-down by way of hooks and wraps her in “carpaccio meat,” an image both fantastic and horrifying.

In her photographs, Enza Santoro develops a research set in which Barbie plays a particular role: she appears tied up tight but, at the mean time, she is somehow seemingly free of all earthly bonds as she stares happily at you with her bright blonde hair.

The artists in this spring show fully and deftly capture the idea of what it means to be a woman in this world. Through their art, they communicate exactly how it feels when the female body that you live inside of doesn’t even belong to you since you constantly compare yourself to the fake, “perfect,” and skinny bodies of the fashion industry.

“The Shapes of Time” brings together five Italian artist and one form New York (Doris Wyman). What is the memory and what is time related with memory? And again, how the matter can reveal the traces of time? Six artists involved in this show answered this question through their works.

Rosaspina Buscarino Canosburi presents a small piece made of canvas treated like wood. The wave of the canvas creates a little blue vibrant sculpture. Clara Scarampella built a magical world on the sand. The inconsistent creations and the traces on the sand, in one minute can be destroyed, only the artist can fix and stop that image through the black and white photos elaborated with a computer, Graziano Cuberli modulated the canvas surface with different materials like cd room and corks: dripping and shapes compositions are live in harmony world. Isa Di Battista Gorini colorful paper prints and the modulated textures in the Nicolosi’s paintings invite us to reflect how the time goes by very quickly. Doris Wyman’s works communicate peace and and serenity, both works are made with watercolor on a special thin paper. Six artists in a frame of this exhibition tell us that the art is a special and unique space for contemplation, a space that can open new big space beyond our eyes in which, maybe, and the time it doesn’t exist at all.