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# Mannequin Designer Ralph Pucci's Playful Humanoids
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/mannequin-designer-ralph-puccis-playful-humanoids/
- Published: 2015-05-07T21:09:59.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:59:41.000Z
- Description: Ralph Pucci, a high-end mannequin and furniture designer, has collaborated with a wide range of artists throughout his career, producing unorthodox renditions of mannequins since the 1970s.
- Author: Vic Vaiana
- Tags: Art, Kenny Scharf, Manhattan, Museum of Arts and Design, Photo Essays, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![IMG_2412 copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/img_2412-copy.jpg)

On view in ‘Ralph Pucci: The Art of the Mannequin,’ from left to right: Andree Putnam, The Form (1988); Ruben Toledo, Birdland (1988), Zen Zen (1993), Movement (1993), all fiberglass (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

[Ralph Pucci](http://www.ralphpucci.net/about?ref=hyperallergic.com), a high-end mannequin and furniture designer, has collaborated with a wide range of artists throughout his career, producing unorthodox renditions of mannequins since the 1970s. After inheriting his parents’ mannequin repair business, Pucci sought to stretch the stringent commercial parameters of the design object. The [Museum of Arts and Design](http://madmuseum.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) is currently celebrating Pucci’s innovations with a [retrospective](http://madmuseum.org/exhibition/ralph-pucci?ref=hyperallergic.com) that features mannequins designed by him and his collaborators, as well as a studio space that provides spectators with a window onto the assembly process.

The studio is a replica of the space used by longtime Pucci collaborator and sculptor [Michael Evert](http://www.portraitsculpture.nyc/?ref=hyperallergic.com), who will be designing and building mannequins in the museum on the first and last Thursday of each month throughout the exhibition’s run. While the mannequin is a ubiquitous object, the process of its construction typically goes unseen and unheralded. Just viewing the space itself (you can’t enter), which showcases sketches and tools, illuminates the craft of putting these figures together. Behind the objects’ often homogenous image lies a labor-intensive process.

![IMG_2465 copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/img_2465-copy.jpg)

Close-up of the studio’s workspace

The exhibition’s swath of unique takes on the common retail object reveals Pucci’s curatorial and creativesensibilities. In a [statement](http://www.ralphpucci.net/About?ref=hyperallergic.com) on his website, he explains: “I am not interested in the mass produced product. I want the hand of the artist to be seen and experienced.”This is achieved by deviating from the strict commercial standards of the fashion world to show a wider breadth of colors, positions, and characterizations in the mannequins.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/img_2509-copy.jpg)

Kenny Scharf, Ralph Pucci International, “Swirley” (2000), fiberglass, 78 x 15 x 22 in (198.1 x 38.1 x 55.9 cm) (click to enlarge)

Through his partnerships, Pucci has given artists the space to project their styles onto the mannequin form. [Kenny Scharf](http://kennyscharf.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)’s “Swirly,” for example, is a three-dimensional incarnation of the fluid creatures that populate his [paintings](http://kennyscharf.com/paintings/paintings-1983/gallery/image/chunk-pack-3?ref=hyperallergic.com) and [murals](http://kennyscharf.com/wynwood-walls-2014/gallery/image/wynwoodwalls-7a?ref=hyperallergic.com). [Jeffrey Fulvimari](http://www.jeffreyfulvimari.com/eng/?ref=hyperallergic.com)’s “Camille” is animated through active body language, rather than standing in a still pose like most of its kind.

Through the colliding aesthetics of the models on display, the show reveals Pucci’s desire to push the boundaries of high-end fashion design, taking full advantage of the canvas provided by the mannequin. Also on view are selections of jewelry that Pucci showcases on the mannequins — but while that work is attractive in its own way, the revelations provided by the mannequins are much more interesting. These figures feel like a new form of sculpture in the wake of Pop art, exploring the humanoid through the commercial object.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/img_2419-copy.jpg)

Jeffrey Fulvimari, “Camille” (1996); Anna Sui, “Dolly” (1997); and Laura Ljungkvist “Laura” (1998), all fiberglass

![IMG_2498 copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/img_2498-copy.jpg)

Detail of Andree Putman, “The Mistress” (1988), fiberglass, 72 x 32 x 18 in (182.9 x 81.3 x 45.7 cm)

![IMG_2409 copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/img_2409-copy.jpg)

Ralph Pucci International, “Girl” (2008), fiberglass, 73 x 19 x 14 in (185.4 x 48.3 x 35.6 cm) each, and “Sport” (2007), fiberglass, 81 x 23 x 23 in (205.7 x 58.4 x 58.4 cm)

![IMG_2451 copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/img_2451-copy.jpg)

Overview of the exhibition’s functional studio space

![Ruben Toledo, "Birdie", (1999), Fiberglass, 70 x 30 x 13 in. (177.8 x 76.2 x 33 cm)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/05/img_2514-copy.jpg)

Ruben Toledo, “Birdie” (1999), fiberglass, 70 x 30 x 13 in (177.8 x 76.2 x 33 cm)

[Ralph Pucci: The Art of the Mannequin](http://madmuseum.org/exhibition/ralph-pucci?ref=hyperallergic.com) *continues at the* [*Museum of Arts and Design*](http://madmuseum.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *(2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan) through August 30.*