british artist willard wigan is the creator of the world’s smallest sculptures. his pieces are so small that wigan needs to use a microscope and to work between heartbeats in order to sculpt them. tiny figures, buildings and landmarks (invisible to the naked eye) are carved from grains of sand and painted using the hair of a fly.

images © the artist / david lloyd gallery

in 2007, a seventy-piece collection of wigan’s work was purchased by former tennis player turned entrepreneur david lloyd, who insured the collection for a total value of 11.2 million GBP. since then the artist was commissioned to replicate richard rogers’ lloyd’s of london building – with the resulting sculpture being as large as a pin head.

wigan’s work is currently touring the UK with exhibitions planned for the US and canada this year.

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willard-wigan: http://www.willard-wigan.com

wigan speaks to the telegraph about his work

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via kottke