Miniature Art Exhibition 奇想世界微型展

Yesterday I went to a miniature art exhibition in Taichung, Taiwan.   This is a fantasy world created by the artist Tatsuya Tanaka from Japan, who creates miniature artwork from everyday objects and specially made mini figurines. Tanaka has a over 1.6m Instagram and Facebook followers, and every day he shares a creation on his Miniature Calendar website.  I was very exicted when I found out that he was holding an exhibition in Taichung so I could see his creation in real life.
之前兩個月得知台中會舉辦日本藝術家田中達也的奇想世界微型展，非常興奮。因為去年台北有朋友去過他的展覽， 見到她的照片覺得這個展覽非常棒。 現在有機會親眼目睹大師的作品，這個機會當然不會錯過。台中展出只剩下三個星期，昨天有時間就趕快去看。

I was so excited when I entered the venue, running around like a little child at each of the exhibits.  You’ll understand why when you see the photos.  All of Tanaka’s creations will bring a smile to your face, as you just can’t imagine how normal day to day objects can be transformed to a totally different setting.   You have to remember, all these objects are their normal size, they haven’t been enlarged at all.  Tanaka has actually made the figurines into really small ones, I reckon they’re around 2 cm so they are in proportion to the objects.  To use innovation and creativity to describe this is an understatement.
當我進入展覽場內馬上像一個小孩般，左跑右跑觀看各個展覽品。田中的微型作品是用平日一般生活上的物品加上極細小的人偶做成。我覺得他的想像力極之豐富天馬行空 。他竟然可以把日常生活用品變成另一樣完全沒關係的情景實在讓人驚嘆。 現場展品極多，這次先分享大部分的照片。而我覺得最出色的作品，已拍了視頻，下次會跟大家分享。

Take for example a circuit board, have you ever thought it was become a paddy field?  Or that a nut and bolt can be transformed into a thrill ride attracting a queue of people.  I remember seeing something similar at the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, but I can assure you I won’t be queuing up for a ride!  Even a scouring brush is not immune and with a bit of creativity becomes a field of hay.

In the sports section Tanaka created a tennis court out of two scouring pads, and have you every tried circuit training on a tennis balls? Or surfing in a pan of fried rice?  If this isn’t genius, I don’t know what is.

Many people like to go to Japan to admire the cherry blossoms every year, but sometimes you just can’t get the timing right with mother nature.  The alternative is to create your own personal cherry blossom park.  Or you can make your own poolside out of a notebook, camp inside paper clips and then go on a sledge ride on the head of a cold beer.

In the outer space world, Tanaka has created Earth Cream.  Yes, you heard me right, it’s earth cream not ice cream, and it comes complete with an astronaut and spaceship.  Macha ice cream can be transformed into a beautiful Japanese garden and how about fishing inside a cup of Japanese tea.    Apparently Tanaka reckons you can fish happiness from a cup of tea.  Perhaps I will try that one day.

I’m going to leave you with two of my favourite creations, both made from the same daily object but into totally different settings.  Take a look first and see if you know what the object is and where these two places are.

These are staples, I don’t know how often we use them nowadays as we’re becoming a more and more paperless society (I hope you are!).  The first setting is a bit of a giveaway with the Statute of Liberty in the front.  The thing I like about this photo is the reflection from the corner of the cabinet.  It looks like The Shard in London, the tallest building in UK, and it has vaguely superimposed itself onto the New York skyline.  The second setting, if you haven’t managed to figure it out yet is a library.  Do you see it now?  There are gaps in some of the blocks where books have been removed, and a guy is sitting on the top of the ladder to reach the books on the top shelf, careful!!!  And Tanaka has even used the stapler as a cabinet.  I think Tanaka’s imagination here is absolutely priceless.

You may have noticed I ‘ve used quite a few collages in this post as there is just so much I want to share.  In fact I haven’t even shared the creme de la creme, the best yet.  I took a video of it.   Next time I will share that with you.