Tiny Art Universe

A teapot with a miniature abandoned city built on it. Photo: NPR

On the phone screen, a pair of giant hands are cooking in a tiny kitchen: a button-sized egg is frying in a miniature pan, the fire is flickering from a small candle. According to NPR (USA), social media is flooded with images of people patiently recreating tiny kitchens, where they cook eggs with the warmth of a candle. All of these images are not animations, but miniature art that is going viral on TikTok, where the boundary between reality and virtuality is blurred in a world of 1:12 scale.

Control and feat

Miniature art has become especially popular during the Covid-19 era, as artists have begun sharing their tiny models and meticulous crafting techniques. Those involved say the pandemic has fueled this surge of creativity. “It’s definitely about control,” Amanda Kelly, a miniature artist and the first artist-in-residence at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures in Tucson, Arizona, tells NPR. “It’s definitely about control. Like when you play The Sims or a simulation game, you control everything that happens in the little space that you create.”

The Sims is a computer simulation game in which players create and control virtual characters (called “Sims”). But according to neuroscientist Susana Martinez-Conde (Downstate Health Sciences University, New York, USA), the appeal of miniature art comes from more than just the feeling of control. “We are drawn to scenes that are packed with visual information… These tiny miniatures are like candy for our visual system.”

The feat of miniature art is evident in Rhode Island artist Thomas Deininger’s Macawll of the Wild (2024), on display at the Art Miami fair. From the front, it appears to be a green-and-yellow macaw perched on a tree branch. But as the viewer moves, the sculpture reveals an optical illusion: it is composed of such mundane objects as a naked doll, a plastic paintbrush, an unpeeled plastic banana, a bottle cap, a No. 2 pencil, and a tangled measuring tape.

The piece, valued at $60,000, quickly went viral after a woman posted a video of it to TikTok. According to The New York Times, the video had 16 million views by noon on May 11, increased to 50 million by 3:30 p.m., 90 million by 6 p.m., and now has more than 118 million views. Marina Totino, an artist from Montreal, Canada, told NPR about the patience required to “play” with this art form: “Making miniature models is very time-consuming. I often glue my hands with super glue, drop things and can’t find them because they’re so small, so I have to start over.”

Tell a little story

Miniature art is not only about recreating tiny objects, but also about telling stories without words. In the works, humans are often absent, only the artist’s “giant” hands and miniature scenes that connect to the story behind.

“You can slow down, think about small stories, and immerse yourself in the world you want to create,” Ashley Voortman, author of Creepy Crafts: 60 Macabre Projects for Peculiar Adults, told NPR. Marina Totino, meanwhile, takes viewers back to their childhoods with nostalgic scenes from the ’80s and ’90s. “I love recreating spaces that once existed but will never exist again,” she said. One of Totino’s signature pieces is a shoebox-sized video store with hundreds of tiny DVDs, graffiti-covered brick walls, and a “Sorry we’re closed” sign slanted under the door. The mirror effect makes the shelves seem to stretch on forever. “May the memories of renting movies last as long as these hallways lead you,” she wrote on her website. “Everyone loves tiny things,” Ashley Voortman said, explaining the appeal of miniature art.

The tiny scale, typically 1:12, also makes the crafting particularly challenging. “You have to be a Renaissance man, a carpenter, a recycler,” says Amanda Kelly. Voortman often starts with a vague idea, dumps all the craft “trash” in front of her, and starts piecing it together. From bottle caps, old soy sauce jars, and miscellaneous decorations, she has created miniature haunted houses in matchboxes and entire abandoned cities on top of… teapots.

The miniature art community is as open as their imaginations. Artists meet at exhibitions, conferences, and mini markets across the country. “Your miniature world doesn’t have to be perfect. Even if it’s just paper or cardboard, it’s still art, a world that’s all yours,” Totino said.
This trend also reflects the aesthetic flow on TikTok in 2025 that Apple.com once mentioned as the “AI Art Generator” trend. But unlike AI-generated digital paintings, mini art affirms the return of the hand to real, touchable, and tactile objects.

Mini art and the power of social media

Despite its long history, miniature art has only truly become a global phenomenon thanks to social media. Thomas Deininger’s Macawll of the Wild is a clear example: it went from a little-noticed corner of Art Miami to a TikTok phenomenon with 118 million views in just a few hours. Platforms like TikTok are also reshaping the way art is viewed. In Apple.com’s “Mindful Minute” trend for TikTok in 2025, users are encouraged to take a moment to pause in their digital world. Miniature art, where every little detail is carefully considered, is becoming a form of visual meditation, helping viewers find a sense of peace in a turbulent world.

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Source: https://baodanang.vn/channel/5433/202505/vu-tru-nghe-thuat-ti-hon-4006943/