Little People

Slinkachu; Dealer; 2006

I like the use of smaller objects to make something grand such as the works of Do Ho Suh. His installations are hundreds of figurines all similar and repeatedly placed into a larger form like a pattern to form fences, walls; bridges, etc. I also enjoy viewing small figurines with a larger meaning such as the work of Dominic Wilcox War Bowl. Two other artists Slinkachu and Isaac Cordal use little men and women to focus on life.
Both artists place their mini figures in an urban setting. The street installations are similar with the media they use, but with different meanings or interpretations of the pieces. The mini figures are tiny about four to five centimeters. Both artists take a picture of the installation focusing on the characters and then their environment. Many of their settings use the environment around such as the litter found in the streets like cigarettes, Coca Cola cans, pipes, etc

Slinkachu, Liar 2009

They can be sad or happy depending on how they are modeled. They have a theme so their attires are made for the theme such as Slinkachu narrative of Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow.  He focuses on a little man dressed as Superman, but old, bald, and with a large beer belly. He is placed in settings that can make it humorous like the picture Liar of Superman walking away from a prostitute and a strip club(?) or melancholy such as the photograph Overpowered. 

The picture gives a sense of loneliness in the vast concrete environment especially for this superman who was once adored by citizens, but now indifferent like the rest of his fellow citizens.  I think it’s a glance of what people do when they are overwhelmed living in a city like London.  All one can do is try to relax and have a beer.

Slinkachu, Overpowered, 2009

Isaac Cordal Follow the Leader, 2010

                Isaac Cordal gives his mini figurines the loneliness found in Slinkachu works. None I’ve seen have humor in them. It gives a harsh reality of urban living filled with pollution and forcing to do things for survival. In his photographs, he portrays the figurines in a close shot which helps add to the despair of one’s life in London or Brussels. Like the size of the media, one can feel diminutive in this urban sprawl. The installation Follow the Leader displays nine little men in drabby business suits walking or declining into a murky puddle in an alley. They are all hunched over like defeatists as they follow the leader whose top portion of his head is only visible. The cloudy weather enhances the mood of depression with this work. Another installation is Home which is similar to Follow the Leader. It reminds me of Fritz Lang movie Metropolis because of the drones are heading for home similar to the piece in these strange tunnels in the beginning of the movie.  For Slinkachu works, they become interactive with the viewer because he leaves his pieces around the city of London for anyone to examine or crush because no one really notices them. Cordal doesn’t leave his installations out in the elements, however.  

Fritz Lang Metropolis 1927

Isaac Cordal, Home, 2010