Exhibition with artist Bjarne Melgaard using BJD dolls (Norway)

That sounds fascinating! I hope we can find some pictures of the exhibit at some point, the one in your link is intriguing. I wonder which caster he used, Haru maybe?

 

The sculpts look a little like Souldoll Junia and a Bimong girl... very intriguing.

 

Hmmm, when I read "custom-made dolls" I thought he designed them himself. But I can see on re-reading that he only claims to have "styled and clothed" them.

 

Hmm, so he basically does what hundreds of us did in the last years and gets to make an exhibition with it?
It's a little disappointing he doesn't even seem to paint them himself, yet alone sculpt them.
Did he at least sew the clothes and make the wigs? Cause dressing up a doll and putting them into a room is not exactly hard or, uh, mind blowing or thought provoking.

 

I would be interested in what sculpts those are and seeing pictures of the exhibit.

 

If that is all he did, we've been missing out on some maybe fame and maybe money...

 

"These very strange dolls wear miniature versions of my latest clothing collections as well as some one-of-kind couture pieces."

so the designs at least should be by him indeed~

 

I think they kinda look like Dollmore Trinity girls Jude and Elysia. If that's the case then it would be quite the sight, they're 100cm tall!

Anyways, it is a little silly if he gets to have an exhibition and it's basically just doll clothes that he made. However I'm wondering if there will be little setups for them like dioramas, that would make it more artistic in my opinion. XD

 

Yes the definitely look like those Dollmore girls. It looks like the original Dollmore face-ups, too. With 105 cm it's like you can use children-size clothes. So I guess it comes down to how he presents it in a diorama or what. Perhaps it will be underwhelming by our standards, but it's still very cool that he is bringing BJDs closer to the public eye (provided he does not do something perverted to them!!!).

 

much important for mainstream social acceptance.

 

His exhibition is as valid as anyone's. If we had the connections in the art world, we could do it, too. With art, it's not what it is... it's context. If you present your dolls as art, in gallery, that's what it is.

Anyway--I'm curious to see that he actually has displayed...

 

But it's someone else's art really (Dollmore artist). I suppose one could look at them as models for his clothes, if he's really making his own clothes, but it seems like a cop out by my standards to not even do so much as your own face-up. Then again if I could do it, I would exhibit all my collectibles, and definitely put it all down as a tax write-off LOL

This is why myself and most folks I know don't care for modern art. I can never get anyone to go with me to museums even when it's free and one block away.

 

There are artists who use found objects, toilet seats, basketballs, soup cans--all stuff that someone else made... It is what it is. Everyone doesn't have to like it.

 

Excellent point. Art is art because it's... art. It doesn't have to be anything or require anything - you make something beautiful, sometimes just with things you find or changing something else.

 

@bunnylungs, Thanks! I hope they let you take pictures, I'd really like to see them. And I don't think that the fact that Melgaard did not make the dolls he is using in his works detracts from their status as art. Many forms of art use pre-existing items, collage being an example. I like to think of my doll photos as art, if only as a hobby, and there is seldom any object in the pictures that was actually created by me.

 

@bunnylungs -- I look forward to seeing what the exhibition is like. (some places don't allow photos, so maybe you'll just need to get a flyer or point to an online site--but nowadays, not allowing photos is just silly, so perhaps it will be OK)

There are some usages in Art that I think are too much like copyright infringement. Sometimes the Fine Art world is a bit strange about this. So I do totally understand what people are complaining about--and I largely agree with them. Sometimes it's hard to understand what Fine Art critics are thinking, but they seem to be the arbiters of what is or is not Fine Art. We can just think they are crazy (or not), but it won't change what they and others decide (although art trends can shift, so maybe other opinions will help change things).

A while ago there was an artist who was just taking images off the internet and selling them as art! That really seemed ridiculous--and totally copyright infringement! But I don't think that person got in trouble (although there was a big discussion about it). It will be interesting to see how this artist uses the dolls. I think, as long as they aren't stealing actual photos by other people (which is a big problem in general--for all kinds of photos! and of course crosses well over into the bjd world), I think he has the right--just like we have the right to take photos of our own dolls without it being an infringement of any of the makers involved.

 

His explanation of what he would be doing with the dolls sounded very interesting to me. @bunnylungs , I also hope they let you take pictures. I would love to see it.

 

Thanks for linking the photos, @bunnylungs ! Hmmm... It wasn't really what I expected (although I wasn't sure what I expected). It felt a lot like doll arranged sloppily amidst a lot of old leaves. It didn't even show off the clothes in an interesting way (I keep thinking of those fabulous Vogue photoshoots). But then... this is art, not a fashion shoot. And art is whatever the artist intends as art... So, OK. Not really so interesting to me, IF they didn't use bjds! I think he respected the dolls OK (so many people feel they need to hack them into pieces and damage them in order to seem edgy and arty!). I think it's very cool that he was inspired to use dolls in his art.

 

Thanks for posting! There was one setting I liked, I mentioned it on your facebook. I'm sure I could get more natural poses with my dolls but that may not have been his intent. A lot of it seemed sexualized, like the girl with her hand on her crotch and tears in her eyes. But, over all, I have no idea what he was trying to say! Still, it's always nice to see dolls in art and as art.

 

Aaah, thanks for posting and tagging me, very interesting to see those pictures.

A lot of wasted potential and the fact that the part that makes it unusual and interesting (i.e. the dolls) wasn't done by him is just very disappointing. If you take away those "exotic" dolls there is just not much left emotionally.
I also just saw that some of the clothes used aren't even from him but from Dollmore.
The posing is stiff and awkward and the settings boring; I also read the press release again and I have a hard time seeing what he planned to convey.
The oddly sexual poses are actually pretty uncomfortable, it just looks like a room full of abused, but still pretty dead faces?

I do agree though that it's probably hard for us to see it for what it is, because we automatically look at it through doll owner eyes.
A non doll collector just sees huge, kinda realistic and unusual dolls and that in itself is already artsy; add the setting of a huge room and it probably can be pretty impressive to walk through.
However, I just see someone who thought he could use "our" hobby because it's so wacky and unusual to present his fashion on and then hurled those dolls all stiff onto a pile of leaves for art's sake.
Add the sexual (dare I say "rape-y") vibe and it just feels like a bad representation of our hobby.
Just think he could have put in some more effort, both to honor the craft of doll making and his own art a little more.

(I also think it's a little crazy how he probably paid several thousand dollars just to present his clothes on "fancy mannequins". Doubt Dollmore gifted him those dolls? And what is he going to do with them now?)

 

Shows that even if you work at such a place it doesn't mean you are open minded at all

Also man, just storing them...for what?! I doubt someone else will come along and say "man, I'd like to make an exhibition, you got something unusual to put my stuff on?".

 

Storage really??? That's thousands and thousands of dollars on the off chance they will be used again? Doesn't make sense.

Weirdly stiff and sexual positioning, and default faceups aside...the clothes don't fit? It's not exactly hard to make basic clothes like those t-shirts and track suits actually fit...

Overall, I find the lack of effort annoying

 

Thanks for taking the pictures and sharing!

Well, I was hopeful, but I didn't find it impressive. Neither the dolls or the backdrop of the room. I guess seeing what people have done here has set my standards pretty high. I think there is posing that would have implied homeless or street people better, and I didn't love the sexual feel to it. I'd have like to see a better crafted display as well. I hate to be negative, but it wasn't to my taste.

 

Honestly? Some of them look like rape or murder victims.

I mean, I know "art" doesn't necessarily have to be pretty or comfortable to look at, but... Yikes. o_0

 

Thanks for the tag, but I can't see the pictures without a facebook account. Sounds like it was disappointing, though! D: Especially if he didn't even make all the clothes and accessories himself...?

 

Meh. I've seen photoshoots on DoA that were a thousand times better.

 

A lot was very sexualized! I'm not sure what he was trying to say about that... A comment on society???

Wow. That WAS stupid and rude! You should have said, "No. I'm an artist!" ha-ha!

I agree-- the whole display seemed very slap-dash! But maybe that was his point?

Storage makes sense from an art point of view, but not from a doll owner point of view... So, I'm guessing he's doing it totally as an artist and not at all as a doll owner/collector... Although, who knows? Maybe he's just going to store them in doll boxes until he wants to play with them again, like a ton of owners do?

Same with clothes fitting... that might not be his intent at all. But what his intent was? I have no clue--so maybe your comment is totally valid!

 

Ugh. I know it's supposed to be "art" but any time something that seems to be promoting the sexualized brutalization of women just makes it gross. (I think blazing the words "intercourse" and "pay to cum" across two of the dolls' chests says it as much as the sloppy positions and panties.) It also bugs me because it also promotes the stereo type that bjds are some kind of sex dolls.

As for the dolls themselves, that's a LOT of money put into them. Almost all were limited Dollmore Trinities with their company face-ups. (Though one Klaire looks like her chest was modded to male?) The clothing was either dollmore or repurposed/ decorated children's clothes.