ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cheryl Cabrera is a New Orleans native. She’s a graduate of Mount Carmel Academy, the University of Southwestern Louisiana and the University of New Orleans where she received her degree in art education. She is currently a professor of 3D Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she, also, received her MFA.

This is her fifth exhibition at the gallery, and she furthers her experimentation with technology, continuing to use the computer as a tool in her work. She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions and her works are in private collections throughout the United States.

IN HER OWN WORDS

March of 2009, Barbie turns 50, and she doesn’t look a day over 19.

The Barbie™ doll is an American cultural icon of female beauty, and she arouses emotional as well as sentimental attention from many people. According to statistics, 99% of 3 to 10 year old girls in the United States own at least one Barbie doll. Many people consider her to be an embodiment of the ultra thin female beauty ideal and there are many who refuse to let their daughters play with her. As the subject of my devotion as a child, I don’t remember thinking that I wanted to look like her, but I do remember role playing with her as she was the pilot of her own airplane or the captain of her own ship. For me, she embodied the idea that women could be anything they wanted to be.

I chose her yet again as the subject for my current body of work because she is still the subject of such controversy. The first series of painted pixilated images plays well into the distortion of her appearance and how she is perceived. The closer you get, the more distorted she becomes, but if you stand away, she becomes more clear.

The second series portrays Barbie as if she were present throughout history. With this series, I wanted to incorporate her into existing masterpieces with the idea that she was also the subject of the other artists’ devotion as well.