Untitled 1975

Curator: Levinthal’s Untitled, created in 1975, presents an evocative landscape shrouded in shadow, a world crafted with simple materials but hinting at deeper, unsettling narratives. What are your first impressions? Editor: Gloomy and ominous. The dark, sepia tones make it feel heavy, like peering into a clouded memory. It evokes a sense of entrapment, a murky unknown. Curator: Indeed. Knowing Levinthal, and situating this in its period, what do you think about the possible relationship of its narrative to the ongoing and extremely controversial war in Vietnam? Editor: It feels incredibly potent, particularly if these toy figures represent soldiers, suggesting an indictment of how war is commodified and how detachment is created between actual consequences. The materials are speaking loudly. It's toy soldiers against a dark and obscured backdrop—cheaply produced and manipulated within much larger socioeconomic processes. Curator: Right, toy soldiers amidst a war. Levinthal blurs the lines, forcing us to confront the simulation and the reality. Think about how he challenges notions of masculine heroism by shrinking warfare to something we associate with children. Editor: The staging itself, the labor to set it up. Think about what is at stake: these toy-sized actions, re-contextualized, take on immense significance. It raises questions: Whose labor and to what end is any armed conflict produced? And furthermore, what labor and for whom? Curator: Excellent points. Through this constructed reality, he addresses political tensions but also exposes vulnerability. Editor: It also invites us to look closely at the act of representation itself. We can consider the material as inherently historical, socially produced, as much a part of the message as the images and themes. It forces you to look and look again at its production to see the image. Curator: Agreed. It highlights that distance and reminds us of the ethical considerations inherent in witnessing or portraying such violence, which he addresses through these figures and dark space. Editor: Absolutely. Examining the materials really unlocks our perception and exposes larger connections between subject matter and processes of making. Curator: By unsettling our perspectives, it gives this work ongoing relevance for grappling with power dynamics still today. Editor: It moves our focus toward something larger by thinking about it more materially; now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to grab another lens and dive back in to continue processing this work.