Think Small: The Tiniest Art In The World by Eva Katz (small book review)
From time to time in the UK, either newspapers or television will do a feature on British artists who paint or sculpture at minute sizes. What Eva Katz’ book, ‘Think Small: The Tiniest Art In The World’ reveals is that there are many artists world-wide and 24 are included in this book. Amongst the examples here, are a few SF-based ones but, even if there wasn’t, seeing this miniature work is still jaw-dropping. You have to admire their patience and creativity at working at a size that only someone the size of an ant could truly appreciate and a large magnifying glass for the rest of us. Mind you, if you want a literally small collection, then these are the people to look up.
Eva Katz gives a brief bio for each artist and then a two-page interview about how they work and techniques and then samples of their work. These will vary depending on what is available. As the examples shown here illustrate, I selected those that give a sense of scale because we are talking really tiny. You really do have to admire their patience in all of this and some of them point out that some break and have to start again. Just for a change, some of them will also work at a different scale occasionally just for a change. It also appears to be a lucrative industry and they do sell they work.
Teapot © Jon Almeda
With so many people using so many different media, I ended up databasing for comparison. The information is below:-
| Think Small 2018 artists | |||||
| Christian name | Surname | Nationality | Sex – M | Sex – F | Meduim -1 |
| Lorraine | Loots | South Africa | No | Yes | paint |
| Dina | Brodsky | USA | No | Yes | paint |
| Guilia | Bernardelli | Italy | No | Yes | coffee |
| Daniele | Clough | South Africa | No | Yes | fabric |
| Mab | Graves | USA | No | Yes | paint |
| Aki | Inomata | Japan | No | Yes | sculpture |
| Shinji | Nakaba | USA | Yes | No | jewellery |
| Salavat | Fidai | Russia | Yes | No | pencil nibs |
| Klhara | Ledonne | USA | No | Yes | paint |
| Hasan | Kale | Turkey | Yes | No | paints on unusual canvases like nuts |
| Jasenko | Dordevic (TOLDart) | UK | Yes | No | pencil nibs |
| Joe | Fig | USA | Yes | No | paint/sculpture/panorama |
| Sergio | Garcia | USA | Yes | No | mixed-media |
| Zoe | Keller | USA | No | Yes | pencil |
| Shay | Aaron | Israel | Yes | No | sculpture |
| Andre | Levy | Brazil | Yes | No | painting on coins |
| Rosa | de Jong | No | Yes | sculpture | |
| Marine Edith | Crosta | France | No | Yes | paint |
| Michael | Yurkovic | USA | No | Yes | model-making |
| Taylor | Mazer | No | Yes | pen | |
| Heidi | Annalise | No | Yes | paint | |
| Jon | Almeda | Yes | No | ceramics | |
| Johnny “King Nerd” | Dowell | UK | Yes | No | engraving |
| Hoang | Tran | No | Yes | crayon sculpture | |
Five of them didn’t given their nationalities and the women out-numbered the men. I only noted the sex of the artists because I wasn’t sure about some of the names until I read the book. Oddly, only one gives contact details and two or three into our genre with two heavily into comicbook influences. Oh yes, there are some iconic SF characters in here.
Cameo © Khara Ledonne
Looking at the work here, I do think these people are definitely geeky and I hope Chronicle do more books of this sort to show off this amazing talent and work because it is certainly worth a look.
The Statue of Liberty ©Salavat Fidai
GF Willmetts
March 2018
(pub: Chronicle Books. 208 page illustrated A5 small hardback. Price: £10.99 (UK), $14.95 (US). ISBN: 978-1-4521-5696-5)
check out website: www.chronicles.co.uk
