Doll parts | The New York fantasy world of E.V. Svetova
“I don’t pretend to be an artist, I just play with dolls.”
Moscow-born New Yorker E.V. Svetova’s intricate, elaborately styled characters and the urban scenarios she puts them in are as cinematic and compelling as anything that Cindy Sherman has created. If not more so. Svetova became an internet sensation after the photographs of her series of David Bowie dolls went viral. She continues to refashion existing fantasy dolls – from Soom and Dollstown – and custom sculpt her own models to create tableaux that add an extra dimension to the characters that can be found in her written fantasy fiction.
She spoke to us about some of her most compelling images:
“I was born in Moscow, grew up in the Soviet Union during the 70s, and had a chance to experience both the security and the subjugation of the totalitarian state. In retrospect, it was a winning combination of a happy childhood and a subversive youth.
I received a classical fine arts training, and a Masters degree in English, but just as it was my time to become a productive member of society, the country I knew fell apart at the seams. I found work as a translator and later as a writer for a foreign newspaper. Moscow in the 90s was like Berlin in the 20s: dangerous, vibrant and exciting. At some point it became too exciting for my blood, and after the second coup d’état in 1993 I came to live in the States. I’ve considered myself a New Yorker ever since.
I’ve always loved crafts, and appreciated the God-like feeling that creating miniatures, especially dolls, offers. Because of their detailed articulation and realism, ball-jointed dolls lend themselves to a great degree of customisation: they can be sanded, carved, painted, outfitted with custom eyes and wigs to create a unique image. No two dolls are identical. I do all the customization for my dolls, turning them into characters from my stories. Last year I published a children’s book, Print In The Snow, about a teenage girl who had an adventure in the Otherworld and lived to tell the tale. Now I am finishing a novel with the same character as an adult, exploring the thin line between the real and the fantastical, sanity and mental illness, and the games our perception plays with reality. With their unearthly yet uncannily human beauty, these dolls provide a wonderful source of inspiration.”
Anna: "As a kid, she used to pretend she could see monsters – funny what a teenage girl would do to feel special. Of course, those visions were nothing but self-induced hallucinations. These days, she is on the other side of the barricades: armed with reason, warding off the dark demons that haunt the human psyche. A clinical psychology grad student with ambitions of becoming a therapist, Anna is a poster child for mental health. Curiously, her PhD thesis deals with memory and delusion."
"If the woman he loves kicks him to the curb, what's a magical being to do? Why, exploit his ethereal beauty and become a fashion model, of course! Never mind the elf ears, they'll fix it in post production. This set is inspired by The Thomas Crown Affair, hence the gentleman/art-thief theme. The art of the traditional formal suit is juxtaposed against the street art of the modern city."
Anna: "A tough young New Yorker, Anna has survived the Otherworld. She pretended it was a bad dream, and tried to forget about it – except now she can see the monsters for real. She can't tell anyone for the fear of being thought crazy. Now, she is a girl with a secret."
"Is he a vulnerable mental patient suffering from grandiose delusions on account of past trauma, or a magical being from the Otherworld on a mission to find true love and save mankind?"
Anna: "A competitive skier, down-to-earth and downright snarky, fourteen-year-old Anna is the girl least likely to lose herself in a fairy tale. But, against her better judgment, she follows a boy into what turns out to be a snow-covered netherworld inhabited by monstrous creatures known as wyssun, and becomes trapped in the Otherworld. Run by elves, and not the nice kind, it is a confusing and dangerous place. Anna has to get back home before the fairy tale turns into a nightmare."
One of Svetova's famous custom-sculpted David Bowie dolls: "A piece of fan art for my favorite artist in my favorite film: Major Jack Celliers, the rebellious war prisoner from the cult classic Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence."
E.V. Svetova at work, photographed by Jennifer Drue.