Big Ideas in Art Aren't Always Large

Recently, I attended a show at The LODGE. The LODGE is an art gallery in Los Angeles that is run by the lovely Alice Lodge. I have seen a number of shows here, but The Mini Show was by far my favorite. This show was conceived by artist Clare Crespo, who created a 1:10 scale model of the gallery. Inside this tiny gallery were tiny art pieces by Louise Bonnet, Clare Crespo, Tierney Gearon, Shane Guffogg, Miranda July, Konstanin Kakanias, Janet Levy, Geoff McFetridge, Jon Pestoni, Rob Reynolds,  Joe Prime Reza, Ed Ruscha and Mary Wigmore. There were no pieces hanging on the walls of The LODGE during the Mini Show. The scale model of the gallery stood in the middle of the empty gallery, accompanied by magnifying glasses for the guests of the gallery. The viewers looked into the tiny gallery from the top down, viewing tiny works of art through a magnifying glass. None of the paintings were for sale. It was a brilliant show, which ran from the 3rd to the 25th of October this year.

This show got me thinking about art as it relates to size. There have been a number of very tiny artworks over the years, some of which we have learned about in class this term.

The first thing that comes to mind is the work of Henry Dalton. Henry Dalton used microscopes to create art that could not be seen otherwise. He used the scales of butterfly wings to produce gorgeous works of art, each piece using up to one thousand scales. His work can be seen at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in California.

The Wim L. Noorduin, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has created sculptures with self-assembling materials. These materials were coaxed to ripple, spiral, and bend, and were formed into leaves, stems, flowers, vases, and corals.

Timothy Leong of Johns Hopkins University made nanoscale dice using self-assembly techniques. They are 200 microns across, and won first place at the 2007 Science As Art competition.

There are also a number of other artworks, some of which can be viewed here:

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-incredible-pieces-of-nanoscale-art.php 

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/introduction/introduction_to_nanotechnology_31.php

 

 

Works Cited

Dietle, David. "Top 10 Most Incredible Pieces Of Nanoscale Art - Toptenz.net." Toptenz.net. TopTenz, 29 Jan. 2012. Web. <http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-incredible-pieces-of-nanoscale-art.php>.

Gravotta, Luciana. "Very Fine Art: 6 Stunningly Beautiful Nanoscale Sculptures [Slide Show]." Scientific American Global RSS. Scientific American, 19 May 2013. Web. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/very-fine-art-6-stunningly-beautiful-nanoscale-sculptures-slide-show/>.

"Introduction to Nanotechnology – Images." Nanowerk. Nanowerk, n.d. Web. <http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/introduction/introduction_to_nanotechnology_31.php>.

"MINI SHOW." The Lodge. The Lodge, n.d. Web. <http://www.thelodge.la/mini-show/>.

S&C ETC. "Art Made of Butterfly Wings: The Micromosaics of Henry Dalton." Past Present Art Made of Butterfly Wings The Micromosaics of HenryDalton Comments. WordPress, 02 May 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. <http://pastandpresent.com/2014/05/02/henry-dalton/>.