The incredible shrinking artist

September 22, 2006 11:24 PM

Urban Fiction is the ongoing art project of Xing Danwen, who takes photos of miniature buildings and then photoshops tiny versions of herself into the frame, doing mundane things amidst the tiny scenery(click the "Detail" images to see a zoomed in shot).
posted by jonson (14 comments total)

This is cool! Very nice models, photography and photoshoppery. I especially like the splatted man one...
posted by jimmythefish at 12:09 AM on September 23, 2006

I really love the way the models are lit.
posted by delmoi at 12:29 AM on September 23, 2006

This is really nice. Thanks. (Though I don't think mundane is exactly the way I'd describe what's going on in this one.)
posted by bunglin jones at 2:14 AM on September 23, 2006

I really like this. It's such a simple idea but very nicely done.
posted by LeeJay at 2:43 AM on September 23, 2006

I very rarely "get" art. I can't look at it and understand the point and the message. If I read the artist statement that goes with it, I usually still don't see how it relates to the art I'm looking at. I often think it's beautiful, I just don't understand.

I'm quite pleased to say that I both "get" this, and think it's beautiful.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:59 AM on September 23, 2006

this is excellent, and original to boot.
posted by dydecker at 9:00 AM on September 23, 2006

Nice post, Jonson - Thanks.

As I explored the site, several reactions occurred within me. First, I was amazed at the extent of the building going on in China. One reads of it, but this drove it home for me.

Next was the exquisite detail of the macquettes- truly an art form in itself.

Finally, Xing Danwen's way of projecting herself into this proto-urban environment. I particularly like all the roles she has adopted as she contemplates inhabiting this new landscape. No photograph of a cityscape will ever be the same now.
posted by RMALCOLM at 9:05 AM on September 23, 2006

I forsee thousands of flickrites taking their tilt-shift photos to the next level, very shortly.
posted by shoepal at 9:14 AM on September 23, 2006

foresee, that is...
posted by shoepal at 9:15 AM on September 23, 2006

Indeed, murder is so mundane.
posted by jantastic at 10:15 AM on September 23, 2006

I had thought of something like this... thought it would be hard to execute... the work required is so tremendous. But beautiful execution there, the skyscrapers are amazing.
posted by uni verse at 10:16 AM on September 23, 2006

Murder, you say? See also: Frances Lee (via)
posted by shoepal at 11:19 AM on September 23, 2006

Indeed, murder is so mundane.

Yeah, Mundane was in referrence to the vast majority, but I notice the hot rooftop sex, the murder & the fleeing adulterer ones are definitely more intriguing. I wonder why she didn't go ALL that way, you know? have each one feature a tiny shocking detail? Instead, you get several "hanging out on a corner" or "talking on a phone" images, and then the occasional "I stabbed this guy to death and here's his blood" image.
posted by jonson at 12:54 PM on September 23, 2006

That was one of the things I felt most interesting about it. In big cities, we're surrounded by thousands of other people, but we actually only connect to and relate with a couple of them at a time. Most of those connections are mundane - they're private not because of any great attempt at secrecy, but merely because they're not interesting enough for others to intrude. But some of them are more deliberately private.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:15 PM on September 23, 2006