Iranian Barbie World: Ken by Luckybamero
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Digital painting, printed on canvas
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm
Edition production year: 2023
Price: $380.00 USD
Status: available
“Please be accurate when watching this painting” In recent years I've drawn several Barbie men “Ken”. All of these Barbies are from Iran, and they wanna say that if we live in Iran, we aren't what you think about us, in Iran exist a lot of men that love Barbie dolls. even if they have a strong or big muscle body, Because they are forced to show themselves to be what they are not. Well, this painting is now in France and he explains himself to a lot of people.
Why collect this work?
A muscular kneeling figure occupies a compressed, candy-coloured setting, making Iranian Barbie World: Ken a pointed mismatch between conventional masculine display and the playful language of the doll franchise.
- Luckybamero describes a practice concerned with queer identity, Iranian cultural memory and critical humour. The artist specifically frames this figure as an Iranian man whose interest in Barbie conflicts with expectations imposed upon him.
- In the supplied photograph, the figure’s broad torso and clenched fist dominate the centre, while his bare feet, patterned trousers and bent knee complicate a straightforward heroic pose. Pink masonry and flooring flatten the architecture into a theatrical enclosure, interrupted by the blue door and upright object.
- The documented digital painting medium supports sharply controlled contours, emphatic colour contrasts and shifts in scale. Printing the image on canvas gives this digitally constructed scene a fixed physical format of 70 by 100 centimetres.
- Encountered alongside portraits of masculinity, the work can sharpen discussion about how strength, ornament, nationality and queer self-definition become visually coded rather than naturally given.
About the Artist
Luckybamero
Luckybamero is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: digital-art. Based in Tehran, Iran.
Nationality: Iranian
My work explores the intersection of queer identity, Iranian cultural memory, and the environment.
