Alex from Colombia forwarded me these pictures of microscopic art. The pictures come with this caption:
Willard is a resident of Birmingham, England. The show is in Manchester. He has a learning disability, Dyslexia, but has talented hands. He makes the sculptures out of dust particles, sugar crystals, etc. He works only around midnight, and can do some of the work only between heartbeats.
Yes, it's all true. The artist's full name is Willard Wigan. You can check out his
website.
Incidentally, Wigan is not the only micro-sculptor around. The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles has, for quite a few years, had a display of the
microminiatures of Hagop Sandaldjian. Worth checking out if you're ever in the area. The MJT website notes that Sandaldjian also developed a technique for working
between heartbeats:
Born of obsessive devotion, an individual figure could take as many as fourteen months to finish. Each sculpted micron represented not only endless hours of toil, but exacting travail fraught with peril, as his work could so easily be destroyed or lost. An unexpected sneeze or misdirected breath could blow away a microminiature with hurricane force, while a casual movement could sabotage the work of months. Since even a pulse in his fingers could cause an accident, Sandaldjian ultimately learned to apply his decisive strokes only between heartbeats.
Comments
Micro-miniature sculptor (uh - he makes little sculptures, I ain't saying' he's size-deficient!) Anatoly Konenko has already done this - actually, he put a whole train of camels in the eye of a needle. If you ever come to Prague you can see it in the flesh, but here's a (not very clear) picture: http://www.monochrom.at/english/2005/02/siberian-craftsman-makes-art.htm
Konenko also made the smallest book ever: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=48253
My name is Don B. This kind of work is, i'll just use Incredible. There are many words of praise that i could chose. I have been searching for months to find out about the Etching & Painting on rice. I have 2 pieces,that i am going to sell for a friend. We have them secured, maginfied, and pictures. One is in Color, a scene on waters edge, in Bejjing,China. Has chop marks, i think they are called. The other is black & white.
Plainly i just need direction. Where do i fnd their worth?
I don't want some, not so Honest, person to take us. The money would go to his mother. Belonged to her husband. They were brought back to the States, soon after WW2. Thats all i know, and i sure could use "Help".
Cordually, Don Burns