Last night I placed a new listing on Etsy for From Russia with Love custom mail order bride drawings. I had the idea to do these a long time ago when asked to contribute the FRWL project to a group show that never came to fruition. Below is a short description of the project, along with ordering info.
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From Russia with Love Mail Order Bride-- MADE TO ORDER
Your very own mail order bride...made to order! For $30, I will send you your own mail order bride portrait, drawn in archival ink on a postcard-size (4"X6") piece of heavyweight cold press watercolour paper. Drawings can be made (from actual "mail order bride" websites) either at random, or made to order from your specifications. Specifications can include any combination of the following:
-Age
-Height
-Eye Colour
-Hair Colour
-Weight
-Hobbies/Special Interests
Each drawing comes with an info sheet that includes information about each portrait subject-- name, country and city of origin, age, etc.
From the original FRWL artist's statement:
From Russia with Love is a project based around a series of 72 portraits of Russian “mail order brides” drawn from photographs on internet sites. This project is an extension of previous work exploring serial portraiture- yearbook photos, WWII military portraits- and the idea of portraits of this nature serving as “human catalogues.” Using the laborious act of drawing each woman’s likeness by hand, the project attempts to subvert the idea of these women being catalogued, while alluding to their commodification through their presentation within storefront installations and supplementary bookwork/pinback button multiples.
-Age
-Height
-Eye Colour
-Hair Colour
-Weight
-Hobbies/Special Interests
Each drawing comes with an info sheet that includes information about each portrait subject-- name, country and city of origin, age, etc.
From the original FRWL artist's statement:
From Russia with Love is a project based around a series of 72 portraits of Russian “mail order brides” drawn from photographs on internet sites. This project is an extension of previous work exploring serial portraiture- yearbook photos, WWII military portraits- and the idea of portraits of this nature serving as “human catalogues.” Using the laborious act of drawing each woman’s likeness by hand, the project attempts to subvert the idea of these women being catalogued, while alluding to their commodification through their presentation within storefront installations and supplementary bookwork/pinback button multiples.
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If you're interested in purchasing a drawing, buy one through the listing on my Etsy shop here.
