GEOFFREY DREW - BIO/ARTIST STATEMENT
Artist Statement
The image and form of Barbie has changed since 1959, yet the doll’s famous attributes continue today: her shiny white smile, bright blue eyes, large breasts, narrow waist, and legs that go forever. These unreal expectations inform and teach people to act and think according to someone else’s expectations. Imagine, all this from a plastic toy.
My Barbie doll inspired paintings, drawings, and photographs have been a way for me to explore the discrepancy between the outward appearance of dolls and their complex meaning. The image of a Barbie doll, while a cliché in terms of female stereotypes, has in a unique way informed me about gender roles and expectations for women and men. As Barbie and Barbie-like dolls were and are still used as toys and role models for girls and boys, the doll’s evolution has an awkward relationship to how we behave. I have placed the dolls in fictional narratives as a way to investigate the lifelessness of these potent figurines.
Biography
I was born in Boston in 1967 and raised by a pack of wolves, which consisted of two great parents and six brothers and sisters. I earned a BFA from Syracuse University in Art Education in 1989 and a MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 1993.
I have been teaching art for fifteen years and having a blast. Only recently have I had the chance to return to the studio. The work on this site reflects the past few years of production.