when ugly goes commercial

The Ugly Dolls are big sellers. Why? Do parents etc. see them as an alternative to stereotypical "doll babies," or less gendered dolls? Are they just ugly enough to be cute, or charming? Do they just seem funny and "unique"? I admit, I kind of like them, but can't quite put my finger on why. 

cherries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyvzfgxY0kc


this is full of grotesque factors, although i've watched it so many times i'm sort of desensitized to it now. there's this other r kelly vid which is grotesque but not appropriate.
i think in a way this is a good representation of how real life is disgusting which just a slightly heightened sense of possibility.

Blood!

you might not think dracula is that grotesque until you see this movie:

dracula 

is a big part of the book i am working on, and yesterday my friend invited me to the dracula spiral q parade. there is a dracula festival at the rosenbach library, for the holiday season. anyway, there is a gallery tour of maurice sendak's monsters, and a discussion of stoker's notes on wednesday.  i guess sendak's drawings seem more cute than scary, but perhaps more grotesque for that very reason? (oooh!)

Our organisms are genetically mature and dislike being called children. They wear sneakers so that they can run fast like super- powered nomads.

Interview with Jake and Dinos Chapman
Published in Journal of Contemporary Art. Link Here

Keys:

The uncanny - "when the terrifying the familiar overlap"
clones - the "horrible standardization"
The bodily creation as an "organism"
what is the "rude" aesthetic?
efflorescence, excess

note: after their initial introduction, Jake and Dino Chapman are attributed as simply "Chapman." Have they morphed into an art making/speaking creature? Who is speaking? The artists, their artistic philosphy? Their cheekiness?