Dancing on the Head of a Pin

June 23, 2006 12:56 PM

The art of Willard Wiggan is the world's smallest art.
posted by walljm (23 comments total)

Sort of a double...
posted by jonson at 1:01 PM on June 23, 2006

Wow. That's cool... but I was left wanting, oh, I don't know.... bigger pictures!
posted by Hanover Phist at 1:01 PM on June 23, 2006

I'm told it isn't really the worlds smallest, so that should be ammended to, "the art of Willard Wiggan is really really small". ;)
posted by walljm at 1:01 PM on June 23, 2006

Still, holy shit that's tiny. I am amazed.
posted by kyleg at 1:05 PM on June 23, 2006

the smallest.


posted by delmoi at 1:11 PM on June 23, 2006

at least three times smaller than this full stop >>> .

Either they wrote that using a font a damn sight bigger than I'm using to read it, or there's some exaggeration going on. And "three times smaller" is such a klutzy usage. How about "a third of the size"?

Also, this guitar sculpture. It's not done by hand, of course.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:13 PM on June 23, 2006

Wow. He makes small things. It's sort of like people who make big things, but it's the opposite.

But he makes nice cat stuff


posted by illovich at 1:15 PM on June 23, 2006

walljm: "I'm told it isn't really the worlds smallest, so that should be ammended to, "the art of Willard Wiggan is really really small". ;)"

Anything smaller is, by definition, not art.

George_Spiggott: "And "three times smaller" is such a klutzy usage. How about "a third of the size"?"

How much smallness did it have? Three times more smallness than a period. Easy.
posted by Plutor at 1:20 PM on June 23, 2006

Unlike moving atoms or micron sculpting, this is done by hand, right? So uh, how the hell does he do that?
posted by puke & cry at 1:21 PM on June 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

Q: When did you discover you had this talent?

A: One day I looked closely at a booger I'd been rolling in my fingers and realized it looked like the Taj Mahal.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:25 PM on June 23, 2006

In Kiev my wife and I visited a museum of art by Mykola Syadristy, the so-called founder of microminiature art.

http://www.microart.kiev.ua/en/index.html

He created this sailing ship that is only 3.96 mm long, and many other amazing works, all by hand with a microscope.

http://www.microart.kiev.ua/en/lebid.html
posted by redmonk at 1:28 PM on June 23, 2006

redmonk: That gallery makes my head hurt. Thanks!
posted by Pacheco at 1:36 PM on June 23, 2006

huh.
posted by Peter H at 1:37 PM on June 23, 2006

The story behind delmoi's picture, with more pictures.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:53 PM on June 23, 2006

Wow, redmonk! That guy's work is INCREDIBLE. I love the caption at the bottom of the ship photo. "The size is enlarged". Talk about understatement.
posted by jonson at 2:35 PM on June 23, 2006

Hilarious. No wonder I like his work; I posted a link to it two years ago. Glad to see he has a full gallery now.
posted by jonson at 2:38 PM on June 23, 2006

These would be great... if they were just a wee bit bigger.
posted by gigawhat? at 2:39 PM on June 23, 2006

I wonder if he ever sculpted Wonder Woman or Bat Girl...

You know, like a heroine needle...
posted by qvantamon at 2:42 PM on June 23, 2006

**groan**
posted by lilbrudder at 2:49 PM on June 23, 2006

*giggle*
posted by Phantomx at 3:49 PM on June 23, 2006

Related to small art, there was a great short story in a recent New Yorker--In The Reign of Harad IV, by Steven Millhauser--about a model maker trying for smaller and smaller perfect miniatures.
posted by gac at 4:11 PM on June 23, 2006

...not on a nano scale by any means, but some pretty darned small writing made into images. Local story here.
posted by bloomicy at 4:55 PM on June 23, 2006

posted by c:\awesome at 6:20 PM on June 23, 2006