Tiny Little Worlds on the Edge of Destruction

NYC-based artist Thomas Doyle creates beautiful miniature sculptures teetering on the brink of disaster. “The pieces in Doyle’s 1:43 scale series feature demolished, buried and over-the-edge houses, pristine green landscapes, and tiny human figures. Domestic yet catastrophic, these intricate miniature worlds reminds us the power of nature and how small we really are.”

   His artist statement provides helpful insight into his work,

My work mines the debris of memory through the creation of intricate worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. Often sealed under glass, the works depict the remnants of things past—whether major, transformational experiences, or the quieter moments that resonate loudly throughout a life…The pieces’ radically reduced scales evoke feelings of omnipotence—as well as the visceral sensation of unbidden memory recall. Hovering above the glass, the viewer approaches these worlds as an all-seeing eye, looking down upon landscapes that dwarf and threaten the figures within.

Conversely, the private intensity of moments rendered in such a small scale draws the viewer in, allowing for the intimacy one might feel peering into a museum display case or dollhouse. Though surrounded by chaos, hazard, and longing, the figures’ faces betray little emotion, inviting viewers to lose themselves in these crucibles—and in the jumble of feelings and memories they elicit.

The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself—with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss. By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like blackboxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory.

Thomas Doyle Creates Beautiful Miniature Worlds on the Brink of Disaster [Inhabitat]