Tatsuya Tanaka has been wowing Instagram since 2011 with images of his astonishingly detailed miniature models, which depict scenarios ranging from the slightly off-kilter – tiny human figures interacting with regular life-size objects – to the outlandishly surreal. In one work, ‘trains’ formed of sushi rolls, hotdogs, pencil cases and strawberry cakes simultaneously pull into a railway station.
This exhibition at Nihonbashi’s Takashimaya department store is a triumphant homecoming for Tanaka and his minuscule marvels. ‘Miniature Life, Mitate Mind’ recently completed its premiere run over in Seoul, where it attracted over 90,000 visitors in the space of two months. Around 160 miniature works, all being exhibited in Japan for the very first time, are divided into seven zones taking the themes of ‘Home’, ‘Form’, ‘Colour’, ‘Scale’, ‘Motion’, ‘Life’ and ‘World’.
One standout piece wittily evokes the work of Swedish-American artist Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022), which included everyday objects such as spoons and wood saws rendered way, way larger than life size. In this Tanaka work, visitors in a miniature art gallery marvel at sellotape dispensers and other stationery items that are to them similarly oversized, yet of standard dimensions in our own eyes.
All of the works may be photographed, giving you the sense of being a colossal giant behind the lens. Better yet, there are dedicated photo spots that allow you to pose beside large-scale works that, when photographed, will reduce you to the size of one of Tanaka’s tiny human figures.
The exhibition is closed on Aug 21.