Idea : 1 Puppets

"Puppets"

When I began doing research for my idea, I looked up a familiar artist Laurie Simmons at the library. “The Puppet Show” book which contained some of Laurie’s work was listed so I checked it out.  As I began reading the book I started thinking about how puppets and dolls relate to real life.  Puppeteers often use puppets to act out stories or events that are relevant in their lives. For Instance, in “Being John Malkovich” Craig Swartz, the puppeteer “can only properly express himself via his puppets. When he hides behind the curtain and the puppets speak, then Craig Schwartz can accomplish great things.”  (Greenfield) People obtain interest in puppets and dolls because they can act out or play changing the pretend into ideal situations. 

I researched puppets to think in more detail about how dolls are used to indulge on a lifestyle or a particular scenario.  For example how people or kids want to experience certain scenarios when they are older.  When little girls play with Barbie as children they more often than not make Barbie get married to Ken, have a career, and then they have a baby (family).  Puppets are a little more abstract in that anyone can play with them at any age, using them to replay a variety and extraordinarily complex situations.  The Puppet Show, exhibit was designed to make the viewers relate to their “inner puppet.”

“In puppetry, the thing becomes a being because of an implicit contract shared: the event depends on a triangle linking the audience, the human performer(s), and a inanimate object.” (Taylor, pg. 53) I’m hoping that I can create this triangle with my work and have my audience relate to my performers (subjects) when viewing my photographs. 

Music by Regret, 2006 Laurie Simmons

Music by Regret, 2006 Laurie Simmons

Music by Regret, 2006 Laurie Simmons

Works Cited

Otero, Ana. "Laurie Simmons at the Metropolitan Museum on Sunday."  25 January 2008. 7 September 2010.  <http://blog.art21.org/2008/01/25/laurie-simmons-at-the-metropolitan-museum-on-sunday/>.

Greenfield, Daniel.  "Being John Malkovich- A Philosophic Journey into Human Identity." <http://hubpages.com/hub/Being_John_Malkovich_-_A_Philosophical_Journey_into_Human_Identity>. 

"Laurie Simmons The Music of Regret." 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. 7 September 2010. <http://www.kanazawa21.jp/exhibit/p_complex/special/index_en.html>. 

Taylor, Jane. 

The Puppet Show. Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia . 2008