Between reality and fiction, there is only the thinnest of lines, that photographer Stephan Garcon seldom blasts away. The work of the Germany-based artist may look like a child’s play.
Colored pencils, a child’s sieve and handicraft supplies. He does not need more than that to charm those who gaze at his work and wonder: is it real? Working in his workshop inside a disused US military airbase, near the German town of Bitburg, the photographer creates miniture adventures with Mercedes-Benz models as heroes and sometimes dinosaurs as villains.
„My idea is to create pictures where the casual viewer has to think about whether the object is real or not”, Stephan Garcon says about his task.
And in order to convert the artificial intro reality, the 50-year old artist does everything by hand.
As we’re speaking, he’s working on a whole scene around the 300 SE from the W 112 model series – the racing car bearing the 617 number, that won the Argentine Touring Car Grand Prix in 1964. Driver Eugen Böhringer was the man behind the wheel.
The once military base décor is just right for the scene Garcon has schemed: this is the set for recreating the Argentine Touring Car Grand Prix, which had the Mercedes-Benz car running for glory. Stephan Garcon borrowed a toy-shovel and a sieve from his 2-year old son to spread a layer of dust over the iconic 300 SE.
With a passion for miniature versions of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, Stephan Garcon has enlarged his collection over the years. Right now, it consists of over 50 figures and 50 car models. But he also drives a natural-sized black R-Class, manufactured in 2009. The gigantic R has plenty of space for the minuscule automobiles.
His passion did not just come out of the blue. He grew up around cars: his father worked at a dealership, so the little Stephan had much to do with automobiles. After graduation, he bought himself a W 124. And his love for classics has not melted throughout the years and neither restricted his mission of building just about any model.
Photo credit: Mercedes-Benz
