The
BabyDolls shown here are only the latest in a series of BabyDoll
installations
over the past 15 years for artist babaLou. Also known as Jujus and
Pupe (German for baby doll), babaLou’s babies have been shown
at galleries and installation/performances in both Germany and
the
United States. Most notable include:
• Element Art / Collage Gallery, West Berlin
• Pupp-e-Rama / Freidrichshain Gallery / East Berlin
• Swartsberg Gallery / Munich
• Michigan Gallery / Detroit
• Twin Palms Gallery / San Francisco
• Friday the 13th Gallery / San Francisco
The
BabyDolls are all used toys. Found at rummage shops, babaLou ‘wipes
clean’ the previously neglected dolls down to a bare canvas she
can then add to and augment until the BabyDoll emerges with a new
spirit, a new, magical creature. “I build them up until they’re
finished, until they somehow feel final,” says babaLou. “In
the end they’re all special; I put my magic and feeling into
them, and then they begin a new life.”
In
a relentless pursuit to ultimately integrate metamorphic change which
represents the exterior of the image and the metaphysical manipulation
of the object (its essence), babaLou moved from illustration and painting
to three dimensional work. She began with Performance, emphasizing
form and movement. After a number of years of collaboration, babaLou
progressed into a more subjective application, her BabyDolls. Fascinated
with animation, and the chance relation ships that occur with found
materials, she turned to inanimate objects.
Born
and raised in Detroit, Michigan, babaLou moved to West Berlin in
1980,
where she began her work in performance art, and on the Puppen, in
earnest. Five years later, babaLou moved to San Francisco, taking
a growing number of BabyDolls with her. She and the BabyDolls have
lived in San Francisco ever since, where she works with a variety
of commercial multimedia/video production/web design companies,
constructs
model fabrications and works as a consultant for events production
as well as continuing her work in performance art.
Continuing
Work with Theater and Performance Art Groups:
• Survival Research Laboratories
• The
Berkeley Shipyard
• Osseus Labyrint
• Flaming
Lotus Girls
• Big Fun Productions / Circus Celluloid
• Seeman
Work
In Progress: Pupe, a traditional stop-action animation film
