Headless Barbies on the March

Spider Barbie? In “Sentinel Species,” artist Laurie Hassold has created an army of crawling Barbies equipped with extra legs but no heads (so much for the big hair look!).

The hundred or so mutant Barbies comprised one of the displays in “The Fragmented Body: Violence or Identity?” a free exhibit appearing at Cal Poly Pomona’s art gallery through Nov. 27.

As with the other displays in the show, Hassold’s creepy-crawlers are designed to raise questions about the idea of physical beauty in this culture.

“We have them on the floor, on the wall, on the [exposed] pipes in the ceiling,” curator Patrick Merrill said of the Barbies. “It’s almost like they’re coming out of the woodwork.”

Ken, by the way, was omitted from this display--for his own protection, one surmises.

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YOU GO GIRL! Spider Barbie is merely the latest weird--and unauthorized--manifestation of the perky money-machine manufactured by El Segundo-based Mattel. She has been:

* Tonya Harding Barbie, Hooker Barbie and Homeless Barbie in an art show seen on the PBS special, “Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour.”

* In a Nativity scene in the Philippines that consisted solely of Barbie dolls (the bearded Barbie was Joseph).

* The gay lover of Kendra in the short story “Barbie Comes Out” by Rebecca Brown--Kendra being Ken after a sex-change operation, as you may have guessed.

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THE LAST TEMPTATION: One of the more playful exhibits at the Cal Poly art show is Donna di Carlo’s “Nipples of Venus and Chocolate and Acrylic Table.” On the table are several pieces of breast-shaped chocolates. No sign indicates whether viewers are allowed to taste the art. But they do.

“It’s fascinating to watch people walk by it and then, when they think no one is looking, take one,” Merrill said. “It’s the humor of temptation.”

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Only in L.A.’s Dining Guide for the Daring (see accompanying) offers a “Shopped Steak,” which prompted Michael Lieberman of Woodland Hills to muse, “I wonder how long they had to shop it before they decided to offer it to their customers?” For non-meat eaters, there’s nothing like “Home Made Tuna,” which caused Bill Fawcett of Tujunga to comment, “I knew cloning had come a long way, but this. . . .”

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WAITER, THERE’S A TYPO IN MY SOUP! Dave Smith of Camarillo, meanwhile, came upon a menu (see accompanying) with a map listing what must be a new Westside institution, “San Tamonica” College.

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L.A. TRIVIATA: Some books about Los Angeles whose themes are pretty much evident from the titles:

* “Alice in La-La Land” (Robert Campbell)

* “The Nowhere City” (Alison Lurie)

* “City of Angles” (Al Martinez)

* “L.A. Is the Capital of Kansas” (Richard Meltzer)

* “Lust Angeles” (F.M. Philips)

* “Los Angeles: Capital of the Third World” (David Rieff)

miscelLAny:

Around midday Tuesday, radio station K-Traffic (AM 1650) went silent for almost half a minute. The silence was eventually punctured by someone who apparently didn’t realize the microphone was open. “Strange,” he said. Then the station’s traffic reports resumed. Of course “strange” is always a safe term to use for L.A. traffic, especially on the San Tamonica Freeway.

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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.