The Dolls Of Lena And Katya Popova
The profile for Lena and Katya reads, in part, thus:
Lena & Katsya Popova, beautiful sisters, are new wave in Russian doll scene. Their early creations were proportional figures as shown this album, but their recent series as ‘Fashion MOON’ and ‘SKIN’ are quite unique and aggressive in deformed body.
My ignorance of a “Russian doll scene” should come as no surprise. That is, while I am aware of Russian dolls in the form of matryoshkas, I was unaware that there was a scene. Of course, this may have more to do with the connotations that I attach to the word “scene”, meaning that “Russian doll scene” makes me think of imposing, babushka-wearing Barbies looking disinterested at a trendy dance party. This would be wrong.
Looking beyond my own linguistic hang-ups we have the sisters’s actual work, and I can’t help but be drawn to it. The more traditional lamps are beautiful, their voluminous dresses lit up from within, belying their spindly frames topped by ivory faces. However, SKIN is a completely different animal all together. These are stunning, foregoing the traditional doll trimmings in favor of displaying fully that alien body-type, elongated just beyond the point of believability, clad in Westernized tribal chic.
It’s some impressive work, retaining the cuteness of a child’s toy while simultaneously functioning as modern sculpture. Plus, I can easily imagine them looking bored while listening to, say, Lady Gaga.
May 15th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Oh my god… these are GORGEOUS. This one just kills me:
I LOVE the body proportions on these! HOT! They remind me of Peter Chung characters.
They don’t appear to have a proper website, but I found some more of their dolls here:
http://www.nonc.jp/exhibits/page12/page12.html
Their house really reminds me of my old house in Russia, it’s eerie.
Thank you for sharing these, Ross!
May 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
In terms of the Russian doll scene — are you guys familiar with Marina Bychkova’s work?
http://www.enchanteddoll.com/
And, yes — I am LOVING these. Wow!
*entranced*
May 15th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Ashbet, funny you should mention Marina. You’re going to want to pick up a copy of Issue #3, for sure. ;)
May 15th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Im in love
May 16th, 2009 at 7:59 am
That hyena wrangler is amazing, dunno if I want to fall in love or just get out of the way^^
May 17th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Sigh! Adding one of these to my forever growing wishlist…
May 17th, 2009 at 9:21 am
These are absolutely stunning! Too bad they don’t seem to be for retail, as far as I can gather at least.
Owning one of these, along with a Scott Radke scuplture would really make my life complete. Though if nothing else, just looking is an amazing treat as well.
May 17th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Incredible, absolutely incredible. It always amazes me to see the new creative ways that humans push themselves. I think words fail me beyond what adjectives I, and others, have already used.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Sooo beautiful! I love the incredible elegance of the first posted here. Well, they’re all elegant, but that photograph in particularly really captured the grace and cleanness of their look.
May 19th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Total love.
February 14th, 2012 at 11:08 pm
semplicemente…meravigliose!