FREE! See incredible photos of Iraq & Afghanistan in tiny toy versions by photographer David Levinthal

DOG STAR finds these photos by David Levinthal to be both provocative and creepy.  As a viewer these photos manage to make the experience of war both an intimate (small scale toys, closeness of the action, color saturation) and an incredible detached one (toys, again and the failure to be able to identify any reliable marking or signal to place oneself in the photo - Where is this action taking place?  Who are these soldiers?).


We first saw David's work in the Chanel Contemporary Mobile Art exhibit - he showed large Polaroid prints in sepia tones with S & M masks and fine, expensive jewelry coming out of the mouths of the subjects.  Strange stuff, indeed.  These war pictures are very, very different.

I.E.D.: War in Afghanistan and Iraq features eighteen color photographs by renowned photographer, David Levinthal, which seek to examine the way in which our society looks at war.


The idea for this series was conceived when Levinthal recognized a flood of figurines and models available to the American consumer, depicting the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Through the use of these miniature soldiers, civilians and armored vehicles, Levinthal constructs extremely realistic dioramas that recreate the horrors of contemporary warfare. However, these photographs do not simply recreate scenes from a foreign war. Instead they bring a new perspective to the discourse about war, how it is broadcast in real time and how it relates to American society as a whole. Without interjecting his own prejudgments, David Levinthal asks the viewer to reconsider their own perceptions of reality.


A book of the photos is available from PowerHouse Books (here)


Here for David Levinthal's website 


Here for Stellan Holm Gallery 

Stellan Holm Gallery is EASY TO REACH


FREE!  524 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011, 212.627.7444, Open Tuesday through Saturday 10am-6pm