Many artists have set out to conquer the miniature world, but most of them do so by creating colorful, bright, and funny scenes. Japanese artist Satoshi Araki, on the other hand, takes quite a different approach by portraying the raw, often dirty and trashy underbellies of our biggest cities.

The Tokyo-based artist concentrates on various aspects of life in a city, but he specializes in emphasizing the dirty chaos of city life, even when it descends into violence or warfare. Many of his hauntingly realistic Styrofoam dioramas depict real ruins in Iraq, for instance, for which he finds inspiration by browsing the Net. More info: Blog | Twitter (h/t: spoon-tamago, ufunk)