Tatsuya Tanaka’s art is vibrant, charming, and playful. But what really makes it stand out is its size. The Japanese artist specializes in miniatures and has been creating remarkable dioramas of people since 2011. His miniatures can be seen working, playing, competing, and anything in between.
What’s special about Tanaka’s art is that unlike other miniature artists, he uses everyday objects as background for his tiny creations. Most children have a way of looking at things and imagining them as something completely different – a piece of broccoli turns into a tiny tree in a tiny world, an empty bottle turns into a rocket.
Tanaka has been looking at everyday objects like that his entire life. For him, a blue towel looks like a miniature swimming pool, a CD looks like a tiny skating rink, and the broken screen of a smartphone looks like a fishing hole in a microscopic North Pole.
This way of looking at things gives him a fresh perspective. You can imagine a whole different world full of tiny people going about their lives, not seeing the bigger world around them. His tiny sculptures are cute – but they’re also thought-provoking.
