Usually in human life, a doll is a toy for girls, often not very presentable. Although there are completely different dolls, of various types – for example, marionettes for the theater, or collectible porcelain dolls, very realistic, often very expensively dressed. The doll contains a paradox. On the one hand, there is a feminine component in her – attractiveness, a certain softness and fragility, something that attracts and encourages you to bring her closer to you. On the other hand, it is completely cold and inanimate, one might even say dead. She only looks like a girl or a woman, but it becomes completely clear that in fact there is no girl or woman there. Disappointment sets in: there seemed to be some kind of hint, hope was born, but it turns out that there is nothing. This moment of despair is the main idea of the series.
Little Doll,2021
70x100 cm (27.55x39.37 in),
oil on canvas
Little Doll, 2021
70x100 cm (27.55x39.37 in), oil on canvas
For example, on the work “Procession of dolls” (2023) there are not only “girls”, but also “cavaliers”, “soldiers” and “horsemen”, moving from right to left, like a Hebrew text. On the one hand, this is a bright, solemn procession, but on the other hand, it is going nowhere, into oblivion. Basically, this is how human life works. A person can have great success and honor, he can earn a lot of money, he can experience a great love, and not even one. But then he leaves. Perhaps there is some memory of him that will last a certain time. This memory will be speculated as if it is something real, but a lot of people understand that nothing, in fact, remains from a person. The only way to “stay” is to cling to something great in life. But how can a person do this? What can he get hooked with? It is this human tragedy that represents the inner meaning of a bright marionette procession that goes into darkness.
There are very few “male” dolls in my work – almost all of my dolls are female characters. Many do not think about it, but in society a man is perceived both as a biological man and as a person. These two aspects of his nature are not separated. But society treats the woman differently: it’s like if the personal component is “separated” from the female body, which is often perceived as something independent. A woman can be called a “doll”, meaning that apart from the body, attractive appearance, there is nothing in her. Of course, this is insulting and even humiliating. They never say that about a man: they can insult and curse him in different ways, but they definitely won’t call him a “doll.
A woman is treated like a doll, and the woman herself often agrees with this, positioning herself in society as an object – to an incomparably greater extent than a man. That is why a lot of women dress more brightly than men, adorn themselves, flaunt their bodies – becoming, in a certain sense, these same dolls.
We know that a woman is a person who is capable of performing the most difficult tasks in a variety of professional areas along with men, and sometimes copes much better than men – no matter how intellectual a woman is, she also has this very “marionette” aspect. And when we look at an inanimate doll made of wood, plastic or faience – by doing so, even involuntarily, we emphasize the “doll” component of a woman.
As in literature, in fine arts, in order to reach some inner moment, hidden in this or that phenomenon, it is necessary to dissect this phenomenon – to disassemble it into parts. This is the only way to see what is inside and how everything happens.