'Secondhand Barbara #5', 2008
50x50
'The dress of Marilyn #1', 2007
40 x 60
Contemporary urban culture may be largely secular, but we still have our saints and martyrs. Celebrities, revered as quasi-religious icons, inflame our imaginations with an awe that overrides their fundamental humanity. As Russian-born and Paris-based artist Yury Toroptsov demonstrates in his work, the relics of fame carry as much magic as holy articles might to the faithful. But Toroptsov's work asks what fans are hoping to extract from their sensual engagement with a star's garments, or by their careful coping of their idol's appearance. Are these empty rituals of devotion or do fans have a larger spiritual aim when they look toward stars for inspiration?
In his series 'Marilyn's dress,' Toroptsov takes loving, soft-focused black and white shots of a gingham halter dress. In one image, the dress is gently draped over a chair while in another he photographs the seams around the waist from inside the dress, as if he were peering up the skirt. The image's title reveals that his camera was doing what generations of American men, have wanted to do - look up the skirt of Marilyn Monroe. But Toroptsov's view of a dress from the personal wardrobe of Marilyn Monroe has no lascivious aspect. In fact, his images show the garment itself in all its structural beauty and chic charm, while only the title points to its particularly piquant history.
Toropstov's other subject choice offers an interesting contrast to Monroe, whose platinum hair and make-up ironically enhanced her unique natural beauty. This divine allure is in perfect opposition to the built-up appeal of an "everyone" icon like Barbra Streisand. In "Second hand Barbra," Toroptsov presents five photographs of a handsome male Streisand fan during his transformation into a Streisand impersonator. To her fans, Barbra Streisand is the ultimate "jolie-laide." She is a woman whose beauty is the product of determination, care, force of will and self-invention. Toroptsov shows in his "Second hand Barbra" series that Streisand's voice might be a gift, but it was her gumption that inspired her fans and gives them the hope that beauty can be within their grasp, too. Inspiring hope and providing comfort is the role of all icons.
To see more of Yury Toroptsov's work registered on Saatchi Online click here.
Ana Finel Honigman
ANA FINEL HONIGMAN is a critic, PhD candidate in art history at Oxford University and Senior London Correspondent for the Saatchi Gallery's online magazine. She is Art Editor of Alef (alefmag.com) and contributes regularly to such publications as Style.com, Grazia, Tank, Sleek and Harper's Bazaar.
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