History's Burden

By re-enacting Nazi horrors with toys (whose faces one can never quite make out), Levinthal forces us to see them fresh, and to fill in the gaps in detail with our own imagination. Better yet, the exhibit doesn't tell us how to feel about the Holocaust. It lets us approach the terror on our own, relying, however theatrically, on the facts themselves.

Some of the most curious images in the series are the Nazi glamour shots, the pictures of swastika-bearing flags and saluting soldiers and the FYhrer himself against richly red backgrounds. In these pictures, Levinthal emphasizes the fascism of the image and the power of the symbol. On one level, his tiny toys subvert that power; on another, Levinthal's gloomily worshipful depictions of the Nazis serve as a warning about the gloomily worshipful depictions of the Holocaust itself. To deal with one of humanity's greatest transgressions against itself, Levinthal trans-gresses against the rules of how the Holocaust should be approached. Only by doing that does he get to the heart of what we should truly fear: that orthodox representations of the Holocaust, like disciplined displays of Nazi force, will only serve to conceal real, unspeakable terror.

"Witness and Legacy" will be on display through December 14 at the Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston (entrance no. 16 off Cullen), 743-9530.

"Mein Kampf" will be on display through January 5 at the Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline, 942-8000.