IMPORTANT CHILDHOOD DOLLS

I’m sure this doll sculpture will give me creepy nightmares. I used to have a doll which played an important role in my childhood – it reminds me of her. I named her “Lillebror” which is the Danish word for “little brother”, and it made absolutely no sense as she was a girl. I took red nail polish and painted her nails and lips. It didn’t exactly make her doll face less scary – but I loved her and she followed me everywhere.

“I like the idea that the dolls I use in my sculptures have played important roles in so many childhoods. Personalities were attributed to each doll, which have come together to form a mega-personality… A sculpture that screams ‘Look at me!’” says the artist Jon Beinart.

As a child Beinart was preoccupied with the lives of ants, snails, spiders & mice. The fascination of small worlds continued, often blocking out the larger world around him.

“At the age of four, an eccentric friend of my family often babysat me. She made black and white woodcuts of anthropomorphic snakes with sagging breasts. They were often pregnant and wore nooses around their necks. She told me on many occasions that I was destined to be an artist when I grew up and that one of her snakes, which held a paintbrush and palate, was in fact a picture of me. When I asked her about the rope around my neck and why I had boobs, she said it was also a self-portrait! I found this very confusing. She was a bit crazy but her encouragement contributed to my development as an artist.” Beinart says.