Shiny Plastic People

Artist Sarah Haney always thought there was something odd about the way her Barbie dolls smiled all the time, and though as a child she subjected her fashion dolls to all forms of torture, “Barbie still had that little smirk on her face.” As an adult, Haney takes the experiment...

By Susan Froyd

May 27, 2010

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Artist Sarah Haney always thought there was something odd about the way her Barbie dolls smiled all the time, and though as a child she subjected her fashion dolls to all forms of torture, “Barbie still had that little smirk on her face.” As an adult, Haney takes the experiment a step further by photographing Barbie and Ken in situations both silly and compromising. Things Fall Apart, her new show at CORE New Art Space, will make you laugh, but it might also scare you a little bit.

“I wanted it to be funny, but even though there are these ridiculous little plastic people, I wanted it to be more about things that would actually come about in people’s lives.” So, in Haney’s staged world, Barbie and Ken are not communicating, they cheat on each other, their house is in foreclosure and Barbie cooks in the kitchen with the baby on her hip while Ken sits on the couch with a beer. And it’s okay to laugh: “I actually saw someone spit out their wine at an opening once,” Haney recalls.

Things Fall Apart opens with a reception tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. at CORE, 900 Santa Fe Drive, and continues through June 13. Visit www.corenewartspace.com or call 303-297-8428.
May 27-June 13, 2010

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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