Barbra meets Goldfinger

Submitted by Michael Ely July 22nd, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner
I have been somewhat hesitant to share this piece. When people visit our home for the first time, they look around at all the kitsch and collectibles and one of the first things they point out is this Streisand piece hanging on the wall. People either love it or they hate it! They either think it is a beautiful face sculpture or an ugly monstrosity! Some people refer to it as “Barbra meets Goldfinger.”
This work of “art” (once making the list of the ugliest Streisand art on the now defunct Irreverent Guide to Barbra Streisand website) was created by an artist named Erick Erickson in Florida. Erick starts off with an actual life cast mask of Babs cast in cement and then sculptures the hair, eye brows and eyes, finishing the piece in Oscar gold and make-up, and then rubbing it with an antiquing overlay.
Okay, I am a Streisand fan, and as soon as I saw this, I had to have it. Yes, I know it is tacky.

11 Responses to “Barbra meets Goldfinger”

  1. Allee Willis

    I like the Barbra relief though I think you have to be a massive Streisand fan to LOVE it. Very well done though. A little too realistic for my tastes (though I know realism was the point) but excellent for a Babs fan such as yourself. The artist totally got her nose. The kitsch lover in me wishes the hair had been made out of rope but I do understand what a precious and treasured find this is for you. If only you could push her nose and she’d start to sing.

  2. Michael Ely

    Rope hair would be a wonderful touch! Another friend suggested squiggle eyes!

    You have no idea how many people tease me over this piece.
    Your idea to use the nose to activate singing, Allee, has been suggested before! Several friends have suggested that I hook up a small speaker behind the sculpture so that it appears to be singing.

    I am a pretty big Babs freak. Once we were having a large dinner party which included a new guest, and we were all around the table discussing actors and movies, and the new guest said – “You know who I REALLY hate is Barbra Streisand.” Well, the room immediately fell deadly silent and everyone turned and looked towards me, and the poor new guest looked around and got very nervous and said – “Did I say something wrong?” Well, to make a long story short, that guest has never been back to our house for dinner!

      • Michael Ely

        Yes, Allee, you mentioned that and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I loved that album and loved her covers of the Laura Nyro songs (I’m a big fan of Laura too RIP).

        In 1976, my partner played guitar for Clydie King when she entertained at the L.A. A Star Is Born premiere party and I got to meet Barbra. It was a night I will never forget!

        Allee, you have done so much and accomplished so much in your life (in music and art and collecting). What is something you still itch to do? Just curious.

        • Allee Willis

          Everything I do is in efforts to do the one thing I’ve always wanted to do which is to combine everything that I do – music, art, technology, film, writing, sets, social networks, parties, all represented both physically and virtually – into one big artistic expression as opposed to writing a song for this one, doing a website for that one, painting something for someone else. It’s all fun but I’m really an artist who saw interactivity and interconnection a good decade before anyone else I know (https://www.alleewillis.com/technology/index.html) and my natural way of thinking and creating is to execute on all levels and not break it up into different unrelated projects.

          I pretty much finance everything that I do other than the obvious things like the earlier songs and The Color Purple. But the building and maintaining of this social network, the new songs, videos and interactive games with Pomplamoose or anyone else I’m writing with, the parties which are essentially performance art pieces, everything I finance myself. It keeps me in a constant state of being relatively broke. so although I have the greatest thing that an artist can have, creative freedom, I’m not operating on as large of a stage as my ideas and knowledge would have me do if finances weren’t an issue.

          And, of course, i want my own lifestyle line at Target!

          • Michael Ely

            Seems to me, Allee, that many of your artistic, social and technological ideas and efforts could be combined into a film about your life (a full-length documentary), a film that would encompass your music, art, writing, friends, performance parties and more. In fact, I predict that this will happen one day.

            ….And if you ever have a line at Target, I’m buying two of everything!

    • Michael Ely

      Yes, Erick has an interesting background and he creates all kinds of trippy masks of famous people (which hang off the wall and look like they are staring out at you). I love his David Bowie and Liz Taylor ones.