Eva Katz - Think Small: The Tiniest Art in the World

Text copyright 2018 by Eva Katz.
All artwork copyright by the individual artists.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5817-4 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5696-5 (hc)

Design by Lizzie Vaughan and Taylor Roy

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T he artists in this book all work SMALL . Actually, in their cases, small is an understatement. Think tiny. REALLY REALLY TINY . This is artwork so small that it causes viewers to do a double take. Wait, really? Its that small? Are you sure? How did she (or he) do that?! How is that even possible? Am I seeing things?

The ability to work on VERY-SMALL-SCALE artworks requires a great deal of patience and expertise. And yet, despite the many obstacles, there are artists who choose to dedicate their time to working on the SMALLEST of canvases and with the MOST MINISCULE of mediums. What inspires artists to go so small? Is there perhaps a certain type of personalityperhaps one bordering on obsessively detail-orientedthat finds itself drawn to the making of TEENY TINY artworks? What makes an artist look at a sunflower seed or the lead of a pencil and see a canvas? What possesses someone to recreate a piece of iconic mid-century modern design in the SMALLEST homage possible?

TINY art is not a new phenomenon; it has been documented since humans first began painting on caves, going back at least thirty-five thousand years at Maros on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. In the eighteenth century, there was an artist who created astoundingly SMALL and detailed pieces; Matthew Buchinger was a German-born calligraphist, magician, artist, and musician despite the fact that he had neither hands nor feet. In 1718, he painted a portrait of Queen Anne that was a mere 5 x 7 in (12.5 x 18 cm). But if that doesnt sound SMALL enough, consider that the curls of the queens hair are comprised of letters that contain verses from the book of Kings. The letters are SO SMALL that you wouldnt know that they were there, save for the fact that the museum that houses this treasure provides magnifying glasses. Blink and you probably dont see that the looping lines of miniscule handwriting that wrap around the oval frame are actually full chapters from the same liturgy.

The internet is a great way to connect people. For an artist, it can serve as equal parts inspiration and gallery show. Artists with healthy social media presences interact with fans from across the world who may not otherwise see their work. All it takes is for one art website to post an artists work and the followers multiply as rapidly as bees in a hive. Many of the artists featured in this book are not formally trained, and quite a few have day jobs that arent typically creative. What started as hobbies have grown into serious artistic practices, with bodies of work that garner enormous followings on social media. A design blog can share pictures from a Romanian architect and suddenly doodles made during free time manifest themselves into an entirely new career!

Think Small is a window into the minds of premier MINIATURISTS worldwide. Through galleries of their work and artist interviews, we peer into their jewel-like worlds of energy and whimsy, creative discipline and extreme patience. These are artists at the absolute top of their games, whose exquisitely SMALL work is a miracle.