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

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
general eisenhower (details)

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
homeland, 2012-13
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 48’’ 

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
homeland (detail)
 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
volunteer nurse, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
60’’x 48’’

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
volunteer nurse (detail)

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
bt-13 valiant, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 75’’

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
bt-13 valiant (detail)

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
bt-13 valiant (detail)

 

 

jean-pierre seguin assembles an army of toy soldiers for WWII portraits
lieutenant kennedy, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
60’’x 48’’

 

kennedy81801
lieutenant kennedy (details)

 

jet818
curtiss p-40 warhawk, 2013
figurines glued and painted on wood
36’’x 84’’

 

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