PERFECTION IS BEYOND MY KEN
PERFECTION IS BEYOND MY KEN is a newly redone 70x42 mixed media work on wood comprised of 30 articulated, vintage, real Ken dolls-- 29 white, one black. Three-dimensional resin letters are painted with acrylics and mounted on a (hinged) wooden shelf. Two American flags are attached.
Skinny, muscular, blonde, handsome, blue-eyed white males are presented by the doll company as examples of the ideal: PERFECTION. (Um, perfect except for the lack of male parts on all but one Ken.) Untoned, fat and eyes of hazel, I do not fit that American ideal. I am not perfection. Which is why there is no "I" in perfection. The black "I" hangs isolated to the side. So does black Ken over there on the left.
Skinny, muscular, blonde, handsome, blue-eyed white males are presented by the doll company as examples of the ideal: PERFECTION. (Um, perfect except for the lack of male parts on all but one Ken.) Untoned, fat and eyes of hazel, I do not fit that American ideal. I am not perfection. Which is why there is no "I" in perfection. The black "I" hangs isolated to the side. So does black Ken over there on the left.