Adult Swim: Bunny and Barbie Part II 

On view at the Daniel Azoulay Gallery are a few images for the Hitler Moves East series, as well as cowboys and Indians from the Wild West series and of course Barbie, in all her glory in From the Valley of the Dolls.   

By William Fong
Arts Writer

 

I hope you read my feature last week on the quirky photography show at Javogue and Ingalls, Bunny Yeager: Bettie Page in Africa, USA and were intrigued by my discourse and fascination with Adult Swim (cartoons with grown-up themes) on the Cartoon Network.  This week I would like for you to meet Barbie.  You know, she of the idealized, anatomically impossible female form and arguably the most popular doll ever created.  Just the concept of Barbie opens the door to a million and one potential artistic interpretations, primarily from a negative feminist standpoint.  I recently saw her in a series of portrait photographs, modeling many of the outfits for which she is most famous.
The Daniel Azoulay Gallery presents David Levinthal: From The Valley of the Dolls, 1985-2001, a selection of images from the recent work of this amazing, founding father of the post-modern photography movement.  I have actually been an admirer of Levinthal’s for many years.  I was first introduced to his work while in New York with a good friend’ whose law firm happens to have arguably the best private photography collection in the Southeast, for a week of gallery visits and museum exhibitions. On our last day we wandered up to the ICP (when it was still located uptown and not in its current swank, midtown facility) and discovered a comprehensive exhibition of David Levinthal’s extensive body of work.  Who was this man and what was he doing playing with toys? Was he some artist with a Peter Pan complex?
Levinthal found his artistic voice while working on his MFA at Yale in the early 1970’s.
In this jaded time in which we live, Levinthal throughout his career has bucked trends and has often been quite controversial. When Levinthal first started taking photos, the prevailing school of thought for so-called art photography was for the most part sharp, clear and descriptive. One of his greatest achievements while still at Yale was the collaboration with Garry Trudeau (the wry wit behind the Doonesbury comic strip), Hitler Moves East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941-1943.  Levinthal, who harkened back to his youthful days playing with toy soldiers, bought a package of war figurines and decided to contrive tableaux and photograph them in the style of the documentary photographers of the era. These images were quite radical for the time and extremely influential on the next generation of photographers to come.
On view at the Daniel Azoulay Gallery are a few images for the Hitler Moves East series, as well as cowboys and Indians from the Wild West series and of course Barbie, in all her glory in From the Valley of the Dolls.  Levinthal doesn’t take the easy route of simply portraying this American toy icon as a vehicle to espouse some discourse on unattainable role models for young women. Instead he chooses to simply take her portrait and let you make your own interpretations.  She is poised and dignified, as well as a sexy vixen: she is the quintessential commentary on the ideals and pathos of beauty.

The polaroids and c-prints in the show have been lusciously printed and it’s thoroughly refreshing to see work in a variety of sizes.  Of late it seems as if every gallery show that I walk into nowadays has multiple, cookie cutter sized pieces, generally large. Remember, large doesn’t always mean good.  I am extremely pleased to see Miami galleries beginning to exhibit work by artists of Levinthal’s caliber.  We may well be on our way to distinguishing ourselves within the global art community.