Childhood Aesthetics

Edward Gorey

Yoshitomo Nara

Searching for Moongirl litho


My Blythe alter ego



I've always felt that childhood provides aesthetic imprinting that manifests itself for a lifetime. We purchase houses whose shrubs remind us of Grandma's and we reminisce about the cereal we always coveted for the toy in the box. Just yesterday, I went to someone's house and saw her Barbie airplane from the seventies, in all its plastic glory, and I was transported back in time.
My own aesthetic, 'scary funny' a term someone once said, teeters on dark and brooding, but has a surprising foundation in my otherwise happy childhood. Enter the Blythe doll. I recently rediscovered her in a Ports 1961 post on facebook and whammo-- I was back in Jersey City, 1972. Pull the string and her eyes changed color. What was lost in the recesses of my memory emerged clearly as I realized that I have cultivated a taste for scary little girls. Emily the Strange, Edward Gorey, Yoshitomo Nara, and my own work, all have that scary funny quality of the Blythe doll, who has now emerged with an international cult-like following. Of course, I had to have one. Unwilling to fork over thousands for an original on ebay, I bought a limited edition reproduction who, though intended as my Christmas present, arrived yesterday. I just had to see her before I sent her off to the closet for under the tree. Don't worry, I'll act surprised all over again.