David Levinthal "Bad Barbie"
John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
This event has ended.
This sequence of photographs, all made in black and white, dates from 1972 and represents Levinthal's first explorations with the use of toys in making his art. He deploys the commercially ubiquitous dolls, Barbie, her "boyfriend" Ken, and G.I. Joe in a series of poses and tableaux of sexual liaison and activity. The young artist was responding to a contemporary atmosphere of new sexual license enjoyed by youthful America following the liberal-leaning social upheavals of the 1960s. Barbie, already a popular icon, had morphed into the preternaturally blonde, tanned, buxom California beach model so desirous of the era. Levinthal shoots her in scenes of sexual libertinism, solo and with partners, reveling in her freedom and sexuality. She gives pleasure and is pleasured in return. Levinthal's Barbie, exuding the progressiveness of the times, blithely crosses the racial divide in her carefree eroticism, hooking up with a black G.I. Joe action figure for several carnal encounters.
In conjunction with the show, JMc &GHB Editions is publishing a new book featuring David Levinthal's Bad Barbie series. Bad Barbie, a 62 page paperback with 37 photographic reproductions will feature an introduction by Richard Prince and a narrative by John McWhinnie.
Media
Schedule
from November 04, 2009 to December 05, 2009