Barbie Ascot Hat

Credit: The Daily Mail Online

I attended Ladies Day at Ascot and decided to create my own hat for the occasion.  The creation featured three of my zombified Barbies from my 'corruption of childhood innocence' project alongside seven headless, unclothed Barbie dolls attached to a plain black base with red ribbon.  The zombified Barbies wore smaller toy horses in their hair to act as fascinators, to go with the theme of Ascot.

Barbies are often viewed as an unrealistic ideal of the socially constructed standards of beauty for women.  Women at Ladies Day are expected to present themselves very properly to meet these standards of beauty.  My intention of wearing this hat at Ladies Day was to subvert the expectations of women's beauty.  The dolls represent a sense of corrupted childhood innocence as children grow up with these dolls and these ideas of what beauty is and as they grow older they realise how impossible these standards are to meet.  The bloodied dolls represent the lengths some women will go to to make themselves beautiful.

There are strict rules for clothing at Ladies Day and unfortunately my hat did not meet their criteria due to it 'promoting a brand', being 'gimmicky' and 'inappropriate' due to the nude and disfigured dolls.  This meant I was not allowed to wear the hat inside the gates of the event, which was very disappointing.  However several photographs approached me outside the gates and asked for photos of the hat, meaning it was features in several online news articles.

The Daily Mail

The Sun

Online Nigeria

The World Times

Iltalehti (Finnish)

Not My Cup Of Tea exhibition

Photograph by Faith Berry

I participated in an exhibition alongside 22 other artists, I chose to exhibit The Death of Childhood as it was an older piece which I had yet to exhibit publicly.

Photograms

Sexual Motions, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photogram

I tried to create a sense of motion by moving the dolls around between exposures to create different levels of light and shadow, I feel this was quite successful but could be taken further by moving the dolls more dramatically.

Clusterfuck, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photogram

I then used this idea of motion to create a more abstract image by moving doll parts around so their shadows overlap.

Photograms

The Dress, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photogram

Zombiegram, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photogram

I cancelled my photography workshop and instead had an induction to the darkroom so that I could create a series of photograms.  I felt that the use of black and white in extreme contrast would emphasise the sinister feel of the dark subject matter.  I think these two images in particular are quite striking due to their simplistic nature and composition.

Death Of Childhood Continued

Childhood Torn Apart, Chaz Howkins, 2015, assemblage on board

I went on from creating the silhouette paintings on collaged backgrounds by taking this idea further and painting on material collaged on board.  I planned to leave the piece at the painted stage but felt it was rather uninteresting, so I decided to collage further by adding doll limbs, clothing and chunks of doll hair.  This turned the piece into more of an assemblage piece as it was now three dimensional.  The scattered limbs and hair give the piece a broken, disconnected feel, as if to represent a childhood which has been torn apart.

Manipulated Barbie Dolls For Sale

Red Barbie For Sale, Chaz Howkins, 2015,
 spray painted Barbie in doll's packaging

Black Barbie For Sale, Chaz Howkins, 2015,
 spray painted Barbie in doll's packaging

Zombie Barbie For Sale, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie in doll's packaging

I decided to place some of my modified Barbies inside a doll's original packaging to make it seem as if they are being sold to children in this state.  They are all quite sinister and inappropriate for children making them stand out in the packaging.  The zombie dolls could realistically be sold as toys for older children, however the doll juxtaposes the labels of the packaging which brands it a 'fashion doll' in its tattered clothing.

Screen Printing Workshop

Screen Print Series, Chaz Howkins, 2015, screen prints

Minimal Zombie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, screen print

I found the screen printing process to be quite time consuming and frustrating at times, though I feel my outcomes were quite successful.  The image I used of a zombie Barbie works well as the ink adds a dark, gritty feel to it, which when juxtaposed against bright backgrounds creates quite a bold image.

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

I Love Painting, Chaz Howkins, 2015, acrylic on board

I decided to dedicate a day to having a childlike mindset and filled an entire sketchbook with drawings and documentations of my thoughts, which led to the realisation that children don't try to create wonderful outcomes, but rather they enjoy the experience of painting.  I realised this while mesmerised by the colours and patterns of my painting - ignoring the fact that I hadn't primed the board and the outcome really isn't anything special, I just really enjoyed creating this painting. 

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

Selfie Of Colours, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

Calming My Imagination Snake, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

I decided that I spent too long on the first of these two self portraits so tried to be more spontaneous with the second.  The drawing resulted in mainly scribbling as I was focusing on enjoying the act of drawing rather than creating an accurate self portrait of just my face.

Reverting The Mind To A Childlike State

Shroom Selfie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

Abdul, Chaz Howkins, 2015, oil pastel

I wanted to expand on my quick sketches while still in a childlike mindset, so created these A3 portraits of myself and a friend in oil pastels.  I find these portraits interesting as I usually struggle with the use of colour in my work, but decided to use colour to represent movement and depth.  I stopped trying to be completely representational and decided to focus more on the experience of drawing.  I used oil pastels as they allowed me to change colours more easily than when using paint and the resulting outcome looked like a child using crayons.

Drunk Painting

Drunken Demons, Chaz Howkins, 2015, acrylic and poster paint on board

I wanted to further explore the concept of reverting my mind to a childlike state, so I created a larger (A1) paintings whilst drunk.  The colours ended up quite muddy due to how I mixed them together with my hands.  The figure appears demonic due to its simplicity and large, dark eyes.  I scratched away some of the paint with my nails to create and sense of anger and violence in a childish way.  I also scratched vague figures into the background which appear ghost-like and give the piece a greater sense of depth.

Colouring Book Corruptions

Dangle, Chaz Howkins, 2015, sharpie on page from colouring book

Clown Boobs, Chaz Howkins, 2015, sharpie on page from colouring book

I think this simplistic idea of altering drawings in colouring books to make them more inappropriate for children has a lot of potential but is quite a basic concept.  The resulting images are amusing but lack any real depth.

Red Silhouettes

Red Silhouettes, Chaz Howkins, 2015, spray paint and charcoal on paper

I experimented with creating silhouettes on patterned backgrounds to make them busier and more interesting, however it appears quite cluttered and distracting.

White on Black Silhouettes

Drowning, Chaz Howkins, 2015, snow spray on paper

Figures, Chaz Howkins, 2015, snow spray on paper

I feel these pieces are not as strong as the black on white silhouettes but were a useful experiment.

The Death of Childhood

The Death of Childhood, Chaz Howkins, 2015, doll attached to canvas

This piece visually communicates a sudden ending of childhood as the doll represents the innocence of childhood, with the stabbing through the canvas representing an incident that suddenly forces childhood to end.  I decided to use a real doll instead of painting one, as I felt it would have more of an intimidating presence, giving the piece a greater sense of reality and making it more hard hitting.

Larger Zombie Barbies

Zombie Barbie Head, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie doll bust

Zombie Barbie Bust, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie doll

I decided to revisit my creating of zombie Barbies, however this time I used larger doll busts so I could pay full attention to the facial features.  The harder plastic was more difficult to melt and manipulate, however the larger surface area meant I could incorporate more detail.  The size of the heads makes them seem more lifelike, creating a greater sense of unease for the viewer.

Red Barbies

Red Barbie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie doll

Untitled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

I wanted to experiment with spray painting the dolls in other colours, I chose red so that they appeared bold and eye catching.

Further Manipulated Barbies

Untitled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Red-ish Barbies, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie dolls

I used poster paint to colour these dolls instead of spray paint, which gave a more uneven, flakey coverage.  This made them appear less perfect and therefore further from their original form.

Bloody Face Barbie

Bloody Faced Barbie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie doll

I wanted to created a piece in which Barbie appears to be forcing a smile through her pain, so I represented her pain quite literally by smearing my own blood on the doll's face.

White Barbie

White Barbie, Chaz Howkins, 2015, manipulated Barbie doll

For this doll, I used snow-spray instead of spray paint, which created a more textured effect.  I think the effect is interesting as it makes the doll completely impractical as it feels wet and the 'snow' comes off when touched, rendering the doll useless as it cannot be played with without making a mess.