[...] Really odd, ‘cute’ photo series of the average day of a real doll. You decide. [...]

didn’t nancy oliver/gillespie already explore this subject with more subtlety and depth in the recent ‘lars and the real girl’?.
this feels rather passe to warrant the attention-

Well, that’s one way of buying yourself a love doll and writing it off as a business expense…

@osmosis i disagree regarding “lars and the real girl”; i think the film really focuses on the fact that lars loving the doll is WEIRD, whereas this series seems to be trying to portray the doll in a way that tries to imagine how someone could possibly love a doll, how someone could project emotions onto her, by making her seem tender and human.

not that i have a love doll or anything, haha!

Stacy Leigh has been shooting Real Dolls for years.

@carly
believe you may have missed the point entirely- the only weird thing was when lars evaded the real girl who was interested in him. believing that his love and affection for a doll was somewhat delusional from a doctors perspective, his family and entire community came out to mourn for her loss when she “died” as she had become “part of their lives” by the end of the film . . who was WEIRD here???
perhaps it might warrant viewing it again- all the way through this time.

Since 2006 I, Stacy Leigh have been shooting life size love dolls as Art. I have shot the gamut of styles with the dolls as subjects. I currently have 10 dolls in my studio, and have shot over 20 different dolls over the last 5 years. I find it interesting [sad] that nobody has noticed my huge body of work… even now. It’s great that Laurie Simmons has been established since I was a child, and has brought some legitimacy to the Sex doll as art.

The fact is my Love Doll Series may have been noticed sooner if my name had any weight in the art world! Alas it does not and so after one year of shooting dolls Laurie has her work in a gallery.

boo. and yours truly,
:)
Stacy Leigh

Why the wrath from Stacy Leigh that Simmons is using subjects and exploring territory excavated since, as Stacy Leigh herself notes, Stacy Leigh was child? Laurie Simmons hasn’t been working on this issue for one year – she’s been working on her art for decades. That is why she gets recognition. She has earned it.

Firstly there is no wrath! I said that I’m glad Laurie brought legitimacy to love dolls.

Laurie has never worked with Love Dolls/sex toys OR life size dolls of ANY kind. As Laurie has herself stated, this is new territory for her.

I too have earned recognition.

:)
Stacy

Um, how have you “earned” recognition and what does your lack of recognition have to do with Laurie Simmons? It does seem wrathful to whine that someone else’s success limits yours. We’d all like recognition, but recognition is for others to bestow and claiming you deserve recognition is just bitter, not to mention claiming you are due recognition is narcissistic. Maybe you know Laurie Simmons personally, as you address her as Laurie, and if you do know her, whining in public about her success is kind of lame. :-( I will concede that your comments create an interesting dialogue about ownership of ideas. No one owns love dolls or any other idea for that matter – the issue is the execution and the integrity of the work. Period. Eric Fischl made a painting directly referencing the annunciation. Is Leonardo Da Vinci supposed to be upset?

I think there is a real tenderness to these images that I didn’t expect to find given the subject.

Clarissa, you are a bit harsh on Stacy. I think that she feels that she has been working on the idea first. Though I agree that Laurie Simmons has been photographing dolls, since the 1970′s or so..and i would think it would be a natural creative progression for her to photograph the sex dolls. very timely too.

Stacy has been working hard, and it is unfair to call her “narcissistic” and “bitter”, because she feels she deserves recognition. We all know the politics of the fascist art world…how does one get in and get noticed. how do you break the doors down. And all the bullshit art that is tooted as being so great! Stacy, actually, it is a good thing when other artists have similar ideas. It gives your work credance. Like minds think alike! It is very hard to claim total originality. Just because she had this show, doesn’t diminish your chances of great success. I will say, that there is jealousy, and artists that are established have been known to rip off lesser know artists…that’s why most artists protect their work until, they can finally exhibit. Make your approach your own! and get yourself out there!