Disquieting dolls 02

Yes, there is something disquieting in our grand-grandmothers’ dolls – they have witnessed wars and nightmares, too. I say this looking at the doll here above, waiting(?) for her mise-en-place at Museo della Grande Guerra e del '900 of Crocetta del Montello in Italian region Veneto, established in an ex-orphanage building.
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Sì, c’è qualcosa di inquietante nelle bambole delle nostre bisnonne - hanno visto guerre e incubi anche loro. Lo dico guardando la bambola qui sopra, in attesa(?) di allestimento presso il Museo della Grande Guerra e del '900 di Crocetta del Montello, nel Veneto, sorto nei locali di un ex orfanotrofio.

(Thx A:, for reporting this hint!/per avermi segnalato lo spunto)

Botanical dolls

Petals and leaves and a fresh fantasy, but also a sense for the gentle and yet transient beauty of those bright colours and fleshy forms. Elsita’s vegetal creations are almost creatures. (Thx Emma, for this discovery)
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Petali e foglie e una fantasia tutta fresca, ma anche il senso della bellezza delicata eppure transitoria di quei colori brillanti e qlle forme polpose. Le creazioni vegetali di Elsita sono quasi creature. (grazie Emma, che me l’hai fatta scoprire)

Doll News turns… #50

Cover preview! Doll News is the quarterly newsletter created by (and for) Doll Collectors’ Club Italia members. Reaching the 50th issue is exciting, but we don’t celebrate - it’s just fun, no money > no frills. Each Doll News issue, in Italian, features 28 pages filled with (mostly) exclusive contents. Daniela Ferrando (editor), Emma Gilardi (art director) Antonio Russo (DCCI President), Marco Banfi, Barbara De Carli, Cinzia Gai, Laura Ostinelli, Sonya Lanfranchi, Nicoletta Ruta + many other collectors and guests are the happy team behind it.
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Anteprima copertina! Doll News è la newsletter trimestrale creata dai/per i soci di Doll Collectors’ Club Italia. Raggiungere il #50 è emozionante, ma non stiamo a festeggiare – niente soldi > niente fronzoli, è già divertente così. Ogni numero della news, in italiano, ha 28 pagine fitte di contenuti (perlopiù) esclusivi. Daniela Ferrando (editor), Emma Gilardi (art director) Antonio Russo (Presidente DCCI), Marco Banfi, Barbara De Carli, Cinzia Gai, Laura Ostinelli, Sonya Lanfranchi, Nicoletta Ruta + molti altri collezionisti e ospiti sono la squadra creativa.

cover ph credits: Francesca Pigliapoco

Demiourgos of dolls

Snailbooty is his name on flickr, and I’m absolutely hypnotized by his visionary assembling of doll parts, figurines, gadgets and little monsters making him obtain, (in his god-play) operating like a Demiourgos of vinyl, new creatures, proportions and scenes – that are gloomy, tender, sexy, intriguing, scary, sweet, ironic or all this at once. Pls visit his gallery for your enchantment/being caught unprepared as well.
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Snailbooty è il suo nome su flickr, e sono del tutto ipnotizzata dal suo visionario assemblaggio di parti di bambole, figurine, sorpresine e mostriciattoli con cui ottiene, nel suo giocare al Creatore/Demiurgo del vinile, nuove creature, proporzioni e scene – lugubri, tenere, sexy, intriganti, paurose, dolci, ironiche o tutto qsto insieme. Visitate la sua galleria per incantarvi ancor più, o sentirvi ancora più spiazzati.

An Amy... able doll - she's not a doll

Actually, properly, not a doll but at least a Lego character, Amy Winehouse as a collectors’ piece is still strongly recognizable and an element of this Zeit-Geist.
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In realtà, propriamente, una bambola, no; ma un personaggio di Lego, qsto sì. Amy Winehouse come pezzo da collezione rimane molto riconoscibile e un elemento dello spirito di questi tempi.

“out of the frame” doll convention and contest English version

Let’s help them leave their paintings: Mona Lisa, la Maya desnuda, Venus by Botticelli, Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch, the Girl with the pearl earring…
Anyone else? Oh, let’s take out of their frame Henry VIII, Bacchus by Caravaggio, the Money-Changer, a cherub, The Kiss by Klimt… and may they all become dolls!

“out of the frame” is both contest theme and event title for the 11th National Doll Convention by Doll Collectors’ Club Italia, to be held in Calenzano (Florence, Italy) on December, 7th 2008.

Therefore, Doll Collectors’ Club Italia invites all of you collectors and you creative, curious, talented people to choose a famous painting and create your unique doll based on it. You’ve the entire universal art history to inspire your work.

“out of the frame” is a creative contest - open to everybody and voted by the public, in the middle of a very popular doll convention. Calenzano is, in fact, an important yearly showcase, a meeting and a marketplace much awaited by Italian and international dealers, collectors and onlookers, also thanks to the Christmas season.

You can find a lot of vintage toys, there. Expect to meet Barbie PLUS any possible, poseable, sexy, chaste, exotic, minimalist, giant, micro, vintage, new, collectible or OOAK fashion doll. Expect to find Dolls4children, also a special area devoted to donated dolls + an online auction on Ebay to raise funds for Telefono Azzurro, a non profit organisation assisting abused children.

Doll Collectors’ Club Italia, who promotes this event every year in Calenzano, is an independent and very active club gathering adult collectors and connaisseurs who agree that a doll is not only a vinyl item, a fashion icon or an adorable fetish, but a witness of changes and a bearer of memories.
So, why not an art interpreter? An idea shared and promoted by DCCI president Antonio Russo, MD in his private life, collector of rare and vintage dolls. His contribution to the fashion doll culture in Italy are considerable and recognized.

Founded in 1995 as Barbie® Collectors’ Club Italia, Doll Collectors’ Club Italia promotes fashion doll culture by means of meetings, doll exchanges and fleamarkets, internet, charity events, and mainly publishes “Doll News”, the only quarterly newsletter in Italian specialised in Barbie® and fashion dolls. Such newsletter is not for sale – it’s a club members’ privilege, directly handed out or sent to their homes.

join us at “out of the frame” National Doll Convention on December, 7th 2008 c/o Borsa Scambio del Giocattolo, Hotel Delta Florence - Calenzano, Florence, Italy
infoline: Daniela Ferrando - df(at)danielaferrando.com

If I were in her shoes...

... whose shoes? coming soon. Step by step, she took her degree. Who and what? Too many Qs!

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... di chi? presto si saprà. Eh, passo dopo passo, s'è presa la sua laurea. Chi, cosa? Troppe domande!

(Thx, Dona!)

Popularity index

When presidential/VP candidates ride differently creative media still bearing a strong, recognizable identity: a cross stitched Barack Obama, an action doll (please notice: action, not fashion doll) Sarah Palin.
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Quando i candidati presidenziali e vice cavalcano altri media creativi, mantenendo una forte, riconoscibile identità: un Barack Obama a punto croce, una Sarah Palin action doll (NB: action, non fashion doll).

Sarah doll image forwarded by my blogger friend Gido. Thx! * Cross stitch: same link as posted yesterday.

Pop stitch 01

I find it genial: cross stitching for portraying - as if it was about creating miniminiminidolls – a bunch of pop culture icons. as the tiny Amy Winehouse here. Please visit the link below 4 more.
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Lo trovo geniale: il punto croce per ritrarre – come se si trattasse di miniminiminibamboline – un bel po’ di personaggi-icona della cultura pop. come la piccola Amy Winehouse qui. Per vederne altre, un click sul link sotto.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubykhan/sets/72057594064982220/

Gold Oddities

From ethereal to eternal? I don’t feel very comfortable with the solid gold statue portraying Kate Moss as a sort of pharaonic ideal, idol or icon whatever, soon to be displayed at British Museum in London. I would have rather had, more ironically, a doll with her resemblance - something more deteriorable, after all. Nor I feel too comfortable with a baby-molded doll portraying the Pope in golden vestments. Although it’s produced by a renowned brand, there’s something incongruous in such a smooth and chubby portrait of an elderly personage.
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Da eterea ad eterna? Non mi vede del tutto a mio agio la statua d’oro massiccio raffigurante Kate Moss come una sorta di ideale, idolo o icona faraonica, prossimamente in mostra al British Museum di Londra. Avrei preferito, più ironicamente, una bambola a lei somigliante – insomma, qualcosa di più deteriorabile. Né mi sento troppo a mio agio al vedere un bambolotto che ritrae il Papa in paramenti dorati. Anche se prodotto da un marchio rinomato, c’è qualcosa di incongruo nel ritratto così liscio e paffuto di un personaggio anziano.

+> http://www.odd-world.co.uk/schildkrot-the-pope-gold-doll-1_prod10208.html

Dollface(t)s

Graphic art is multifaceted, therefore no wonder when designing ideal feminine faces becomes very close to doll creating. Here, and example by Jitesh Patel and many others checking the link below…
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La grafica è di per sé una forma espressiva molto sfaccettata, per cui non mi sorprende che disegnare volti femminili ideali diventi molto prossimo al creare delle bambole. Qui, un esempio di Jitesh Patel. Molti altri nel link qui sotto...

+ > http://www.thecanvaslounge.com/Figurative/Canvas-Art/49/ (Thx, T)