jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
(above) hélène working on the portrait of general eisenhower
all images courtesy of jean pierre seguin

using over 15,000 toy soldiers, montreal-based artist jean-pierre seguin amasses towering assemblages, ones that when viewed from a distance materialize as portraits and scenes representative of world war II. seguin studies his overall source image from a distance and colorizes each small plastic soldier in a varying color. as the viewer moves around the image, the perception of the portrait changes; the spectator becomes a kind of zoom lens, changing in focal length to produce effects of nearness and distance. at close range, we see an army of thousands of soldiers, while from a distance, we see ‘general eisenhower’, ‘lieutenant kennedy’ and an army nurse, each in their own way, a tribute to veterans. seguin’s work will be presented in march 2014 at ok harris gallery, new york.

general eisenhower, 2012-13
figurines glued and painted on wood
60’’x 48’’

general eisenhower (details)

homeland, 2012-13
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 48’’ 

homeland (detail)
 

volunteer nurse, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
60’’x 48’’

volunteer nurse (detail)

bt-13 valiant, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 75’’

bt-13 valiant (detail)

bt-13 valiant (detail)

lieutenant kennedy, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
60’’x 48’’

lieutenant kennedy (details)

curtiss p-40 warhawk, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 84’’

curtiss p-40 warhawk (detail)

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.