In an art studio in Fo Tan industrial estate, size is everything.
Today, Studio Bibliotheque - the 80-square metre working loft of Singapore-born, Hong Kong-based artist Michael Lee Hong Hwee - is hosting a group exhibition exploring the notion of how 'small is big'.
Eniminiminimos: Artists Who Make Things Small features 13 works by a dozen artists from Singapore, Hong Kong and Britain. These super-small, hand-crafted objects seek to resist the 'bigger is better' zeitgeist: a miniscule 256-page blank book, made from a single piece of A4 paper by Hong Kong comic artist Chihoi; pint-sized reproductions of rooms with furniture; even Britney Spears' visage shrunk onto a piece of chewing gum. Dimensions range from 1cm by 1cm for a figurine in various installations, to 55cm x 50cm x 65cm for an architectural model by Singaporean Chun Kai Feng.
The show focuses on society's size fetish. 'From bra size to wallet thickness, building height to concert duration, movie budget to the dimensions of an artwork, massive scale has captured the imagination of the world,' says artist-curator Lee in his exhibition notes.
He says later: 'To aim for and achieve big is seen as good and right, while any vision or outcome less than enormous seems relatively meek, uninspiring and ineffectual. The art world even has words like 'monumental' and 'sublime' to justify its fascination with the gigantic. Going small is both a resistance against the dominant size fetish, as well as a celebration of the immense time and skills involved in producing and experiencing a tiny but well-crafted art object.'
Contemporary artists are fascinated with small things. Lee cites some that have influenced
him: Tom Friedman's head sculpted on an aspirin, Maurizio Cattelan's mini-furnishings.
