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Little People Pro ject
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Slinkachu / Little People Project
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“
I liked the idea of creating
a hidden world of overlooked city dwellers .”
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Sli nka c hu Li Li ttle ttle Pe Pe ople ople Proj Proj ee ct ct
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Sli nka c hu Li ttle Pe ople Proj e ct
Bio Name : Slinkachu Age / Sex / Nationality : 32/m/UK About : The ‘Little People Project’ started in 2006. It involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which I then place, photograph and leave on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I aim to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scenes I set up, more evident through the photography and the titles I give these scenes aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour. I want people to be able to empathise with the tiny people in my works.
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“ I try to think of the photographs as being snapshots of little dramas and comedies that are playing out all around us that most people don’t see.”
Over v i ew “I’ve always been interested in small things”, says Slinkachu. “My dad made me a train set when
Once he has his shot, Slinkachu leaves his mini models to fend for themselves, with just a blob of
I was younger but I was never really interested in the trains, it was always the figures, houses
superglue on each foot. Some last longer than others, but he rarely goes back to check on them.
and trees that fascinated me.” Now 32, the artist, born Stuart Pantoll, has spent the last six years
“There was one piece in Germany which had a cigarette in it. When we walked past it a few
shooting his miniature tableaux on the streets of London. Funny and touching, fantastical and
hours later, someone had taken the cigarette but had left the character. It was eerie.”
unsettling, they put urban life under the microscope. The street artist known only as Slinkachu has been abandoning little people on the Slinkachu has gone global. Two new shows in London and New York and a book feature further-
streets of London since 2006.
flung adventures. Paddy-field workers toil in the pools of a manhole cover in Beijing; a couple
nature men, women and children living their lives on the streets of London and was
His first project, ‘Little People in the City’, saw mi-
embrace in the snow beneath a giant (life-sized) CCTV camera in Moscow. “I wanted to go to
immortalised in the 2008 book entitled Little People in the City. In Slinkachu’s own words:“I re-
places that on paper were very different,” he says. “But when you get down to street level, 2cm
ally like the idea that you can be trundling to work one day and find some uncommissioned
off the ground, you could be anywhere.”
outdoor art, something on the floor or pasted on a wall. I prefer work that isn’t thrust in your face. There is a high chance that my installations may never be found. My scenes are made
Slinkachu began his series of Little People in 2006, as respite from his day job in advertising. Now
with tiny models and left hidden away on city streets, so they may be lost. But that’s what I
his photographs sell for up to £6,500. “I didn’t expect people to empathise with the characters
like about them. I look at my installations as small slices of drama from everyday life. People
so much. We have an innate pull to look after small things – kids, dogs, hamsters... People
are lonely and intimidated by big city life. Their world is full of dangerous things at 1: 87 scale.“
project their own feelings on to them.”
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For the last few years, the London-based artist who goes by the name Slinkachu has been crafting and photographing remarkably detailed, trippy and sometimes quite moving miniature tableaux on the streets of cities all over the world. Using plastic train-set figures — some of them cut up and glued back together in specific poses, or accented with modeling clay and then painted — Slinkachu creates tiny scenarios that, seen from afar, are almost unrecognizable, but when viewed up-close unveil an almost-hidden alternate reality. On the eve of two international gallery shows featuring his “Little People Project” — showing at LACMA in Los Angeles (Sept. 27 – Oct. 27) — we look at some of his works and ask the man himself a few questions about his process … and his offbeat name.
Slinkachu Overpowered London, 2009 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
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Slinkachu The Lair London, 2009 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
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Inte rv i e w Like parents with their kids, most artists don’t like to choose favorites when discussing their work. But looking back, do any specific Little People projects spark, let’s say, fonder memories than others? Springtime in Palestine was great to shoot — it wasn’t the most elaborate, but it was a real experience to cross over the [West Bank separation] wall, and it wasn’t at all like I expected it to be. We just wandered around for a few hours, and no one bothered us at all apart from taxi drivers. That section of the wall runs right alongside a cemetery, which was sad to see. And up the road, pretty much hidden, is a gift shop that sells photos of graffiti from the wall to the one or two tourists that happen to stumble on it, run by this very chatty guy. All very bizarre. As for some other memories: to shoot in Moscow, I had to lie in the snow for half an hour and couldn’t feel my hands after I finished. I went back to check on History in Berlin later in the day, and someone had taken the cigarette that had been stuck to the top of the miniature plinth but left the rest of the installation intact. Strange. The hardest place to shoot was Marrakech in Morocco. People would always want to see what I was doing as I lay on the ground to make pictures, which is a totally different experience than in a city like, say, London, where people tend to ignore you whatever you’re doing.
What happens to the works you create? Do you build them and simply leave them to their fate? Do you ever revisit them to see how they’re doing? I leave all the figures behind after I photograph them. To be honest, I prefer not to know what happens to them after I leave. Many are probably destroyed — stepped on, swept away — but for me, it’s far better that their fates remain unknown. It feels right, somehow, that they really are lost. You work under a pseudonym, rather than your real name. What, if anything, is the benefit of remaining anonymous as an artist? For some artists working outdoors, there is a need to remain anonymous because what they are doing is often illegal. Mine isn’t — in fact, I get hassled far more for using my camera in areas where it is supposedly restricted than I do for sticking down my figures. I don’t specifically try to be anonymous; I have just always worked under a pseudonym. I will often meet people at events that feature my work, or talk to people if they ask me what I am doing in the street, but I prefer that people think about the work and the characters in it, rather than the person behind it.
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Slinkachu The Lair London, 2009 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
Can you foresee a time when you’ll have said everything you have to say with the Little People Project? I’m sure that day will come. It’s important that I stay interested in the work, and there are definitely a variety of ways that I want to progress. The ideas behind the work are what I find interesting, not specifically the miniature aspect of the work itself. Why “Slinkachu”? Does it mean something? Or do you just like the way it sounds? It stems from my nickname, Slinky, earned when I was younger due to my, at the time, curly locks — like Slinky toys. It was a name I used online for email and other services, and when I started uploading the shots that I was taking, the blog I used was already registered
Have you been painting, sclupting or any other kind of Fine arts?
under that name. I wish it were a more interesting story — but there
or maybe street art before doing miniature scenes in streets ?
you have it. I have always been preoccupied with creative things. I studied art Was there any particular moment or event that motivated you to begin this “little people” project ?
and design at school and university, but my project using miniature figures was my first street-based work. It was actually an idea that i had while i was working as an art director, so it started off as a
Not so much a specific moment, but i did start to become interested
hobby and side-project to my real work.
in the macro, hidden side of London. I found a stag beetle one evening and realised that i hadn’t seen one since i left Devon, which is
Those kind small people are made of Oil/Plastic or other material ?
a rural area. It got me thinking about the world under our feet and how, in a city, you rarely pay much attention to the ground as it is
The figures are plastic. They are modified train set figures.
generally barren and covered with concrete, not full of interesting bugs and plants. A few weeks later, the ‘little people’ project just
If i buy a spray can or two and tag walls or paint funny bubble
popped in to my head and i liked the idea of creating a hidden world
charechters and throw ups… am i street artist then?
of overlooked city dwellers. The term ‘street art’ is, i think, more a generic term that is a catchThe little characters you use. Where do they come from ? Do you
all for any art produced on the street. Whether you think of yourself
paint/custom them ?
as an artist is a personal choice i think. Or perhaps a choice that
Most of the characters i use are originally created for train sets,
pasted – I think with my work, people started calling me an artist
is made for you by the people who see what you have sprayed or many by a German company called Preiser. They generally come
long before i really thoguht of myself as one! Kolahstudio: do you do
unpainted. Depending on the scene, i will cut up and repose the
your works just in london,uk or you are active in many parts of the
figures and model new clothing for them such as hoods and baggy
world? Slinkachu: I have done work in other cities in the UK, and also
jeans, then paint them. They then get super-glued to the street and
Italy, Norway and Holland. I would love to make some scenes and
left there.
take photographs in many other countries too.
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Your works reminds us the scale of our minds .when we concentrate on something it looks so big ,when we do not pay attention to something it looks so tinny. do you see Eternity in a grain of sand? I like to think that i am training myself to pay more attention to the small, forgotten things in life. In my mind, the figures in my installations all have personalities and stories to tell. I try to think of the photographs as being snapshots of little dramas and comedies that are playing out all around us that most people don’t see – the secret lives that people live ‘behind closed doors’. We are always caught up in our own lives and in a western city like London everyone else is anonymous. You so often don’t even know your next door neighbour and people try to ingnore what goes on around them if it doesn’t invlove them. Perhaps this is different in a city such as Tehran. Perhaps in a city where the ploce will arrive in 10 seconds if someone is seen to be doing something unusual, then this kind of anonymity is something that people crave. Is it better to be hidden in plain sight, or hidden because you have to be. Some of your scenes seem to be from the 50/60s. Is it intentional ? Who are your favorite artists (or designers) or what kind of art is your main interest?
The figures tend to have a 40s-50s vibe to them. I think this is be-
I have a lot of favorite artists, but i am mainly attracted to art that
‘good old days’ of steam-powered trains.
cause they are made for train sets and these often hark back to the has narrative and tells us something about the human condition. I love Edward Hopper’s paintings with their lonliness and hints of hidden sto-
Do you feel close to the so-called “street-art” scene ?
ries. I am also a big fan of the comics of Chris Ware. In terms of ‘street art’ i love work that has the power to surprise. I think that unsanc-
In some ways yes. I think the ‘scene’ encompasses a lot of different
tioned work in a city can have so much power as it is placed where
styles of art which is what makes it exciting, although perhaps the
people least expect to find art and can be stumbled upon when people
general public still just think of graffiti as being street art. One of
least expect it too. If you can make someone smile or think, when they
my favorite things about taking part in group shows has been to get
are just on their way to work, then i think you have produced some-
to meet a wide variety of talented artists who in one way or another
thing quite powerful. I like urban art that talks about people too. I think
work on the street. I think because my work also involves photogra-
there is something powerful in Swoon’s paste-ups work as she shows
phy it also stands apart a bit from ‘street art’ (In a way that work by
the beauty in everyday people. JR too produces some really powerful
someone like JR doesn’t as his photography actually gets displayed
images that reveal and celebrate the lost inhabitants of a city.
outside). It doesn’t feel wrong for me to put my shots in a gallery
So how did your work develop into what we see today?
doing stuff outside.
I started buying hard plastic train set figures and modifying them. I
When you were a child were you into Lego or Playmobil?
for instance, although i do prefer the part of my work that involves
scrape away the details with a tiny knife, using a magnifying glass. I change them, too. One guy who was riding a bike, I turned him into
I used to love lego. I was very much one of those children who pref-
a superhero about to fly off a building. I’ve used old zoo figures from
ered making things in his bedroom to playing football outside. I was
the ‘60s.
always builing things from cardboard boxes and toilet rolls.
Like what, or who?
Any plans for the future that you want to tell us about?
Well, like Ben Folds, I like his storytelling. I like movies by David Lynch.
I am working on different series of installations and shots that move
I love the movie “Donnie Darko”.
the project forward a bit – they involve a lot more customisation of the figures. I also want to do some street-based projcts that don’t
What do you think a big project of yours would look like?
use little people but still keep that human element to them and explore how we live in cities and the types of people that live around
I do prefer small, so I’m not sure if my themes could work in a big way.
us. And now it is autumn and wet again i want to hunt down more
I like my things to be melancholy, like loneliness, and people lost and
snails to mess around with. I have kinda fallen in love with snails a
alone. I don’t know why. That’s what I like in other media.
bit. They are pretty cute when you get to know them!
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Slinkachu Balancing Act Cape Town, South Africa, 2011 C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper or dibond
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“ I do prefer small, so I’m not sure if my themes could work in a big way. I like my things to be melancholy, like loneliness, and people lost and alone. That’s what I like in other media. ”
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Slinkachu Balancing Act Cape Town, South Africa, 2011 C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper or dibond
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Slinkachu The Local Authority Grottaglie, Italy. 2010 C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper or dibond
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Slinkachu The Last Resort 2011 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
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Writer’s Bio Name : Michelle Aldredge Sex / Nationality : f/US About : She is a writer, photographer, and the creator of Gwarlingo, an arts and culture website that covers contemporary art, music, books, film, and the creative process. She has twenty years of experience working with artists and arts organizations. From 1999-2012, I worked at The MacDowell Colony, the nation’s oldest artist colony founded in 1907. She has also worked as a librarian, a docent at The High Museum of Art, a photographer, an English and literacy tutor, and an editorial assistant at an arts magazine. She has appeared as an arts and culture commentator on New Hampshire Public Radio, served as the judge for A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Orlando Literary Prize in creative non-fiction, received two fellowships from the Hambidge Center, and consulted on arts projects big and small.
Inq u i ry In recent years the London street art scene has been dominated by the brash, satirical, crowd-pleasing work of Banksy. His 2010 film Exit Through the Gift Shop, which I’ll be writing about in the coming weeks, made Banksy a familiar name in certain American households, and his book, Wall and Piece, has been one of the best-selling art and photography books since its release. But while the public lines up to see Banksy’s shows, and art collectors, like Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera, fork over big money for his paintings and prints, a more polished street artist named Slinkachu has been producing brilliant, evocative artwork that has largely escaped the attention of an American audience. Slinkachu is everything Banksy is not–subtle, empathic, poignant, contemplative. While Banksy’s art relies on shock value, cleverness, and overt political statement, Slinkachu’s miniature street tableaux and photographs convey more complex narratives about the human condition. His art is often witty, but never clever for cleverness’ sake. Like most street artists, Slinkachu’s bio is deliberately vague. He says that his curly hair is what earned him the nickname Slinky–a name that eventually morphed into Slinkachu when the artist needed a name for his photography blog. He grew up in Budleigh Salterton, a small town on the south coast of Devon, As a boy, he played with bugs and creatures in the yard behind his house and helped his mother build dioramas for the children at the nursery where she worked. In one interview, Slinkachu describes a critical “a-ha” moment he experienced while watching a stag beetle crawling down a London street. The unusual sight of the beetle in the city made the artist wonder if such insects actually were rare, or merely unnoticed in the busy flurry of day to day urban life. This intriguing idea of the “unseen” compelled Slinkachu to try his hand at creating his own small, urban dramas. Slinkachu’s work has a dual existence as both a street art installation and a photography project. He often leaves his miniature scenes behind for observant pedestrians to find. The element of surprise is key. His street art may linger for days or weeks, or may be swiftly removed. Luckily, the work has a life beyond the street in Slinkachu’s large-scale photographs and marvelous book projects. Slinkachu’s modified model train figures are the perfect expression of urban angst, for who hasn’t felt small or overwhelmed? As Slinkachu’s photographs and street scenes illustrate, each of us is only one tiny person among millions. The lonely singles, melancholy office workers, and misunderstood teenagers in Slinkachu’s art resonate because they’re familiar. Our own daily lives, like the lives of these little people, are filled with humor, tragedy, boredom, and surprise. The banality of urban living with its crass commercialism and junk food litter is a well-executed theme in Slinkachu’s work. And when it comes to the subject of religion, I’m hard pressed to think of a contemporary visual artist who tackles the topic with such humor and poignancy. Slinkachu’s converted fire hydrant mosque in Lower Manhattan is pure brilliance. And while the British artist creates most of his street art in London and other European cities, his photograph “Jesus Saves” strikes me as a particularly American scene–a shrewd observation on the similarities between marketing a commercial product and marketing religion. Slinkachu depicts our violent human impulses too. It is unnerving to see boys throwing Lego bricks off of highway overpasses or a miniature mugging. “Animals” is a fine example of Slinkachu’s talent for choosing the perfect titles. Who are the real animals in this photograph–the insects or the official-looking men in uniforms beating them with nightsticks?
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Slinkachu Damn Kids 2011 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print
“ Slinkachu’s works convey more complex narratives about the human condition.
on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper or dibond
”
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Slinkachu Life as We Know It 2011 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
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E x h i bi t io n I n fo r m at i on LACMA is delighted to announce exhibition SIZE DOES MATTER by various artists including urban artist Slinkachu. “…some twelve billion years ago the gods created the universe, including the [...] dinosaurs and such like, but after a while found these huge creatures rather tedious [...] Turning from gigantism to miniaturism, the gods then created little creatures on earth, including humans...” Shapiro & Bennett, The Politics of Moralizing, 2002. In turn, Slinkachu, the arch miniaturist, has placed his 1:87 scale installations in a city that is, from the perspective of the Little People, a Concrete Ocean. Or is it also a concrete ocean from our perspective? We city-dwellers often feel that sense of being overwhelmed by the urban environment, we empathise with the vulnerability of the Little People – not least as they are abandoned by their maker either to be trodden underfoot by a careless passer-by or to startle a less careless one. We laugh at their barely significant perspective on life, their diminutive world view and sharply reflect that perhaps ours is equally narrow and our lives are just as insignificant. Teetering on the edge of the metaphysical abyss, the dry, ironic wit draws us back to laughter. After all, a proud podgy man on a tennis ball in a puddle as big as a lake, who really thinks he is a god as he surveys the view and his pretty wife does not know that he has been entitled The Last Resort. Looking at these photographically recorded installations one has the impression of zooming in and zooming out. One feels close to the situation and distanced from it. Slinkachu has seemingly reversed his usual process: he has seemingly uprooted paving stones and parts of pavements and brought them into the gallery. The figures stick to these urban islands, oblivious that the boundaries of their world are so limited. Oblivious that they will float forever on the concrete ocean that is their (and our) home.
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Slinkachu Sugar High 2011 Continuous tone Lambda C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive matte paper
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