Bad Barbie

New York, JMc & GHB Editions. 2009. 60 pp with 35 b&w illustrations; 4to; photo illustrated paper covers.

$20

Bad Barbie, published to accompany a show of David Levinthal’s photographs of the same name, reproduces 25 black and white images the artist made in his early experiments shooting toys. Arranged in a loose narrative sequence the photographs depict the commercially ubiquitous dolls, Barbie, her “boyfriend” Ken, and G.I. Joe, in a series of poses and tableaux of sexual liaison and activity. The young artist was responding to a contemporary atmosphere of new sexual license enjoyed by youthful America following the liberal-leaning social upheavals of the 1960s. Barbie, already a popular icon, had morphed into the preternaturally blonde, tanned, buxom California beach model so desirous of the era. Levinthal shoots her in scenes of sexual libertinism, solo and with partners, reveling in her freedom and sexuality. She gives pleasure and is pleasured in return. Levinthal’s Barbie, exuding the progressiveness of the times, blithely crosses the racial divide in her carefree eroticism, hooking up with a black G.I.Joe action figure for several carnal encounters. At once a charged work of artistic investigation and a light-weight celebration of popular consumer imagery, Levinthal’s very early work is shown as an apt precursor to the path he would later take in celebrated projects like Hitler Moves East, Modern Romance, American Beauty, Blackface, and XXX. Eleven pages of text feature an introductory note by Richard Prince and a racy narrative fiction by John McWhinnie. A limited edition of 1500, from which a hardback edition and a special deluxe edition with accompanying print are planned.