I went to the Saint Mary's Project studio art presentations on Tuesday. The second one, Tara Hutton's, was particularly interesting to me. She talked about her work with making dolls (both virtual and paper). She mentioned drawing inspiration from Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who creates interactive sculptures out of various materials (including candy) by placing piles of the material in the gallery that weigh the same as his lover who died of AIDS, and invites the viewer to take the material. She said this interactivity spoke to her because it made the audience a necessary part of the work. She also talked a lot about the flash games she created, in that they make the audience much broader than just the gallery-going minority who can interact with her physical dolls.
The issues of class, race, body type, sexuality, and gender she presents in her work all point toward a very clear message: we are all essentially the same. The move to a broader audience is a step in this direction as well, but as she told us, it isn't quite universal yet. The use of a children's toy makes the message even clearer, bringing the participant back to a more innocent state of mind, in which they are more able to receive the message.
I hesitate to say anything bad about her project, mostly because i know she's going to read this, but there is one thing that bothers me a bit. Dolls in any form are so distinctly a girls' toy. I think this alienates boys to some degree, especially ones who aren't comfortable with the other issues involved. I'm not sure there is a way to avoid this, but i think it's worth thinking about. The only comparable thing i could imagine is having an action figure that moves, but that's stereotypical in the other direction. I'm interested to see where Tara takes this from here!
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