How a collection affects aura

In my final project, I want to look more closely at aura. Mainly talking about reproduction and how copies affect something's aura. Instead of using art as an example, I'm looking into more recent examples such as fake Yeezy's as well as video game remakes and remasters.

Though while writing my final project, I was thinking about collectors. Collections are a very interesting thing to look at when considering aura, as the thins being collected have some sort of value or predetermined aura. Yet the collection as a whole has its own aura as well. I was thinking about modern day examples of this and for some reason, as weird as it sounds, I remembered this video I watched years ago about some man with a huge barbie collection. One google search later ("dude with a huge barbie collection"), I found an article from 2013 about the self proclaimed "Barbie Man."


This is Stanley Colorite, a 45 year old man, who owns over 2,000 Barbie and 1,000 Ken dolls at the time of this article. He is known to spend over $30,000 a year on his collection and has amassed a collection of immense worth. His collection includes barbie dolls from 1962 as well as more recent dolls.

I wanted to bring this up because each barbie in his collection is unique. Therefore; each barbie in his collection has is own aura. Some may have more aura than others, like the 1962 doll. In this case, the aura of each doll is connected to its worth, as the older more unique dolls can cost anywhere to $1,000 dollars. Simply having all those barbies in one location also hurts the aura of each barbie. If I were to visit his collection, I wouldn't be as impressed by some of his dolls, simply because one is surrounded by more prized dolls. The wow factor of some of his dolls lessens the aura of his other dolls, by simply being there. This is similar to Samantha's show and tell from the beginning of the year, when she was talking about seeing the Mona Lisa. By having the Mona Lisa in the room, the other paintings, even if they are more fascinating, are overshadowed by the more prized Mona Lisa.

Collections are also holders of their own aura. The aura of the collection is the combined aura of all items in the collection. It is almost a spectacle, and with that it creates its own aura. Museums are essentially collections, and more famous museums are known because they include works or items with a higher aura. For example, The Louvre and the Mona Lisa.

Ultimately, I thought it was interesting to thing about how having items with high value, and incidentally high aura, in one location and what it means for the items around it.

Link to article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2289592/Im-Barbie-Man-Collector-spends-80-000-fills-bedrooms-3-000-Barbies-says-wants-twice-many.html