12lve

Exhibit features scorched, mangled Apple gear

Warning: brand-new Apple products were harmed in the making of the 12LVE photography exhibit.

As in run over by a train, shot up with bullets, and burned with a blowtorch. Michael Tompert, a San Francisco-area digital-imaging and CGI artist, purchased the gadgets with the express intent of destroying them, then photographing them. His aim was to make a provocative yet humorous (if costly) statement on consumers' attachment to their shiny new electronic toys. Especially wildly popular ones of the Apple variety.

12LVE includes 12 giant high-resolution digital photos of mangled Apple products, including an iPhone 3G, an iPhone 4, an iPad, MacBook Airs, and iPod Nanos, photographed by Tompert's friend Paul Fairchild.

The colorful and surprisingly striking prints are currently on display at the WhiteSpace Gallery, located inside the hat store Brim in Palo Alto, Calif., not far from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino. … Read more