My Mother's Scar © Doug Dubois
I'm really looking forward to two openings Thursday night. Doug Dubois' ...all the days and nights at Higher Pictures and Phil Toledano's America: The Gift Shop at Hous Projects.In advance of his show, I spoke with Phil about the project and one of my favorite pieces in the show, the Abu Ghraib bobblehead. It's based on the all too familiar image of a man being mock electrocuted as he stands Christlike and hooded.
Phil first approached a US company to make the pieces. An employee with limited knowledge of news and popular culture initially took the bobblehead order, but Phil got a quick call back from the company saying there wasn't a chance in hell. Phil then sent the Abu Ghraib images to a manufacturer in Shenzen, China who created the pieces based solely on the original photographs. Below is the original image and an early prototype for the bobblehead.
I asked Phil, why a bobblehead and he said "I suppose it was the most logical because it was the only 'figure' in the project, plus, it was one of the most iconic images of the war...It was the Iraq war's 'naked girl running down the road after being napalmed."
Here are the details on these two shows:
Doug Dubois | ...all the days and nights
October 29-December 5, 2009
Higher Pictures
764 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
Opening: October 29, 2009, 6-8pm
Phillip Toledano | America the Gift Shop
October 29 - December 19, 2009
Hous Projects
31 Howard Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY
Opening: October 29, 2009, 6-8pm
