This post is primarily a rant in response to
this image that was being discussed on
DoA, as well as discussions on the
blog of Marina Bychkova. If you are not interested in alarmingly expensive art EBJDs, please do carry on with your day.
* * *
In regard to the topicality of Enchanted Dolls™ on
DoA, Marina Bychkova must be considered in a different light from the other dolls featured in the image linked above.
To begin at the beginning, Bychkova has been separated from the wider BJD industry-- previously because of her chosen medium of porcelain, but now also because the price of her new resin line is not in accordance with
other producers of equivalently sized and styled dolls. Unlike the other dolls appearing in
St. James's line-up image, Bychkova's resin Enchanted Dolls,™ despite their comparable aesthetic, are
sold for about twice or thrice the price ($700 for a basic face-up and
$1300 for a blank doll, for instance).
Bychkova's new resin Enchanted Dolls™ are different from the others because their high
prices are not based on quality of craftsmanship or materials alone (the resin line is still just
elastics, imported glass eyes, S-hooks, and resin, even though Bychkova once proclaimed that elastics
Suck), and
clearly (as St. James's shades-of-grey illustration shows) they are not
based on any objective artistic superiority either.
Enchanted Dolls™ are sold at
that price entirely because of an exclusivity that Bychkova cleverly builds into all her marketing of Enchanted Dolls™. What is being sold is therefore
not only a doll: it is an elitist mystique that perpetuates itself through unattainably. Until she takes steps to make her resin line more like the other resin EBJDs that are being compared on DoA, I do believe they are different.
To conclude so far: the resin Enchanted Dolls™ are not drastically different in aesthetic or in quality, but they are different from the other dolls pictured by St. James due to the context in which they have been economically constructed. A dead shark on the beach is very different than a dead shark positioned by
Damien Hirst. Additionally, as fans have already discussed on the aforementioned blog,
Marina Bychkova's
waiting-list
system has
tended to
be somewhat
less than ideal. For this reason too, the economic context of the resin Enchanted Dolls™ is different; the difficulty and uncertainty of being able purchase one of her dolls is a compelling component in Bychkova's economy of value.
Although this inciting of fans through limited release and opportunity has been exploited by many other BJD manufacturers, Bychkova has never constrained her waiting lists to any temporal or physical commitment. Whereas other companies have offered consumers limited quantities, or limited dates for release in order to encourage fans to act quickly, Bychkova has, at least once, completely abandoned her waiting list after pursuing it for an arbitrary amount of time, and reopened a different waiting list after a second and equally arbitrary amount of time. This strategy is as much a part of her dolls' mystique as their price, for it lowers certain collectors into a kind of submission, where Bychkova's whim is value, where what is withheld is desired, and where value and unconsummated desire are conflated into an experience that is later remembered (or concurrently enjoyed) as pleasure.
And I do so like that DoA has thus far avoided such
madness. Until now, most of DoA's discussion of topicality has centered on the aesthetic qualities of various dolls, but I hope that Bychkova's dolls remain off-topic on DoA for reasons beyond their visual aesthetic. This is because the economy of value that she creates around her dolls is much more exclusive than the usual BJDs seen on DoA, and because her relationship as an artist to her audience is vastly different from the usual relationships that most BJD studios have with their audiences on DoA.
* * *
Edit (11/12/12): It looks like the Enchanted resin line is probably on-topic for the new WBJD subforum. Even though I still think that Marina Bychkova's dolls are different from the majority of dolls on DoA because of their exclusivity, they are very pretty, and I hope that anyone posting about them on DoA will enjoying sharing their pictures, stories, and discussions. No hard feelings, kay? :0)
