miniature

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Art

Dina Brodsky Chronicles Her Travels in Detailed Miniature Landscape Paintings

Painter Dina Brodsky (previously) records travel memories from long distance bicycling trips in small circular oil paintings. Brodsky’s style channels the heightened realism of 19th century landscape painters; whereas the historical paintings were created on enormous canvases that echoed the vast American landscape, Brodsky’s contemporary take condenses the visual impact into a token-sized work that fits in the palm of a hand. The artist describes the intention and scale of her work:

I like to think that the reason my works have gotten so tiny over the years is that painting itself is partially an act of meditation, of being able to hold something still enough in my mind that I can capture an image of it. As it becomes easier to slip into that meditative state, the object I need to concentrate on becomes smaller.

Paintings from this series are on view until March 4th in the show Cycling Guide to Lilliput at Pontone Gallery in London. Brodsky also shares her work on Instagram, and offers prints of select paintings in her Etsy shop. (via Create! Magazine)

Craft Food

Interactive Culinary Embroideries by Ipnot

Japanese embroidery artist ipnot creates pieces of food and drink that seem to leap off of the fabric and into life. Ipnot enhances the realism of her embroideries by staging them with their real-life inspirations and surroundings, like piles of fluffy rice in a bowl, and slices of stollen crumbling off a miniature fork. Ipnot shares on her website that her grandmother’s embroidery practice inspired her to start, and she uses the needle and thread similarly to the painting technique of stippling. You can see more of the artist’s petite embroideries on Instagram. (via Spoon & Tamago)

Photography

Tatsuya Tanaka Continues Building Tiny Worlds in his Daily Miniature Calendar Photo Project

Since April 2011, art director and photographer Tatsuya Tanaka’s imagination has built a magnificent number of miniature worlds (previously here and here). Through the artist’s clever lens, everyday activities like construction work, walking the dog, getting a parking ticket, and plowing through a blizzard become delight-inducing scenarios. Tanaka also plays with pop culture references, building staple skyscrapers for Godzilla to prowl.

You can see more from Tanaka’s ongoing Miniature Calendar project on Instagram, where he shares his creations each and every day. With over two thousand scenes and counting, he has garnered an impressive followership of a million people. In August, Tanaka also released a book of his work, Small Wonders – Life Portrait in Miniature. (via Tu Recepcja)

Art History

An Astonishingly Small Stone Carving That Has the Power to Change Art History

More than two years ago researchers from the University of Cincinnati unearthed a 3,500-year-old tomb in the southwest of Greece. The tomb belonged to a Bronze Age warrior nicknamed the “Griffin Warrior,” and contained many treasures, such as four gold signet rings, that have challenged previous notions about the origins of Greek civilization.

Perhaps one of the most important and visually captivating finds from the tomb occurred a full year after its discovery. Researchers uncovered a carved sealstone no larger than an inch and a half wide. The “Pylos Combat Agate” meticulously displays two warriors engaged in battle with bodies strewn at their feet, with some details less than a millimeter wide. The carving is perhaps most astonishing because it predates artistic skills that were not associated with Greek civilization for another millennium.

“What is fascinating is that the representation of the human body is at a level of detail and musculature that one doesn’t find again until the classical period of Greek art 1,000 years later,” said Jack Davis, Carl W. Blegen professor of Greek archaeology at the University of Cincinnati in UC Magazine. “It’s a spectacular find.”

Craft

Nano Origami: Infinitesimal Folded Paper Creations by Anja Markiewicz

Leipzig-based paper artist Anja Markiewicz uses little more than tip of a toothpick (she doesn’t even use a magnifying glass) to make the tiny creases in her miniature origami creations including animals, insects, and geometric designs. Collected here a number of pieces from the last few years, and you can find more in this gallery and in her online shop.

Craft Design

Miniature Paper Plants by Raya Sader Bujana

Paper artist Raya Sader Bujana (previously) has been producing a new series of tiny paper flowers and cacti encased by miniature glass terrariums, each measuring only 4cm high. You can see more on Instagram and a few are available in her Etsy Shop.

Art

Michael Pederson’s Lighthearted Street Art is Hidden in Plain Sight

Using the nom de guerre Miguel Marquez Outside, Michael Pederson (previously here and here) tucks art installations in unexpected locations around Sydney. The artist’s plaques, signs, and miniature architecture tend to center around ideas of escape, isolation, and our relationship to social norms. But he approaches these heavy subjects with a a sense of humor and brings a lighthearted pseudohistory to various structures and spaces. And if Pederson’s shovel piece, shown below, has you wondering, you can use this site to find out what location is on the opposite side of the world from you. See more of the artist’s work on Instagram.