Contemporary Art Stars as Art Army Action Figures

You’ve seen his sketches, now marvel at the masterwork of Mike Leavitt, the artist’s artist. Tomorrow, Saturday, September 10th, his Art Amy Royalty will be on view at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. The show includes never-before-seen action figure versions of art stars Matthew Barney, Christo, Chuck Close, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Claes Oldenburg, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Frank Stella, James Turrell, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker and Ai Weiwei.

I love his interpretations of Christo, Hockney, Koons, Kruger, Kusama, Nara, Twombly and Walker especially, but it’s the creepiness of Claes Oldenburg that really sticks with me. Leavitt really does an amazing job at capturing the essence of each artist. The likeness is on point and yet stylized without being a caricature. Each action figure is a hand-made one-off and will be offered for sale through the gallery. If you can’t afford an original, word on the street is that a production version of one member of Leavitt’s Art Army action figures may be coming soon…

Kara Walker: how genius is that??? You can view each piece in hi-res from many angles here. I’ve (naturally) prepared a low-res animated gif of the work (at top of post). Leavitt’s outdoor portraits of the figures just blow my mind, so since I can’t be there in New York, I’m including them in this post for posterity. Click through for a who’s who of contemporary art stars. We’ll begin and end with Oldenburg. Have a blast at your show, Mike!