War Models

War Models is a series of photographs of unassembled model airplane kits of aircraft flown in the current Iraqi War.

Forty aircraft types have been flown in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This includes 30 types of airplanes -- fighters, troop transporters, aerial tankers, and reconnaissance planes -- eight types of helicopters and two kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), one armed with missiles, the other with cameras.

Of the forty aircraft flown, model kits are made of twenty-one The prints are scaled in proportion to the actual aircraft; each image is 1/50 the size of the actual aircraft. The AV-8 Harrier, for example, is small enough that two could squeeze into the typical San Francisco house lot, while two B-52 Stratofortress bombers would overcrowd a football field. The AV-8 weighs 14,000 pounds; the B-52 carries five times that weight in bombs alone.

These images of children’s toys touch on the American fascination with symbols of power and acknowledge the complex relationship to the destructive power of the actual aircraft.

To view a PDF of the War Models portfolio, click here (right-click to download).

Laven's work has been exhibited in individual and group shows. War Models has been exhibited at Gallery 16, San Francisco; Foley Gallery, New York; Joseph Bellows Gallery, LaJolla.

Sales inquiries to wmlaven@platinotype.com