Life on the mini mean streets: Sculptor puts New York cityscapes under the microscope to produce incredibly detailed dioramas


New York City - with its crowded sidewalks, creeping, honking traffic jams and endless streams of awe-struck tourists - can sometimes feel a little claustrophobic.

In the world created by Alan Wolfson, New York is even smaller... to a mind-blowing degree.

The 62-year-old artist creates handmade miniature sculptures of Manhattan street scenes, down to the finest of detail and complete with complex interior views and lighting effects.

For scale: A $1 bill lies on the pavement to show how intricate Alan Wolfson creations are. This is a detail of Peepworld (2007), which is 17in x 22in x 26in

New York in a box: Peepworld shows the grotty and grubby streets of New York in the 1970s. Side views, left, give an even more detailed view of what goes on behind the facade. Trash in the streets and signs are shown in incredible detail

Room with a view: A detail of Times Square Hotel Room (1982, 13in x 18in x 20in) shows not only the neon and vice of the outside world, but the lonely life of a writer

Canal Street Pizza: Some of Wolfson's work is taken straight from real life and real locations. Other pieces are conglomerates from locations around Manhattan

A major work can take months and even years to complete, with Wolfson saying that he can think about a piece - sketching it and photographing locations - for years before beginning on the diorama.

Just don't mention Gulliver's Travels.



He said: 'On a couple of occasions the word “Lilliputian” has been used to describe my work, which I really hate. I just can’t stand the word, and again, the fact that my work is in miniature is not the point; the miniature scale is the vehicle that gets you to the point, whatever that may be for the individual viewing the work.

'The response I’m interested in is the one that settles in after the “wow factor” has worn off. That’s when the piece starts to have an emotional impact.'

Tube Bar (1982, 13in x 13in x 13in): Wolfson was taken by the architecture of this bar while on one of his many walks in the city. It even has a 'help wanted' sign

Flights of fancy: Other works, such as Follies Burlesk (1987, 14in x 19in x 21in), take real elements of New York and mix them up with Wolfson's imagination. Scattered throughout is sign-writing inspired by the artist's father

Classic mash-up: Wolfson says the piece entitled Terminal Diner (1990, 15in x 20in x 20in) is a classic example of reality mixed with fantasy. The carpark next to the real diner is now a freight office

There's no denying that Wolfson's work has wow factor. Peering through a tiny window of a mini building, viewers can see coffee mugs next to individual pieces of paper - a teeny pen resting on top.

He said: 'I understand that my work is unusual and in some ways indefinable; people don’t know which box to put it in.'

The pieces are not exact representations of existing locations. They are a combination of elements from various New York landmarks, as well as pieces of pure imagination from Wolfson. In all of his works are examples of sign-writing, which Wolfson says are inspired by his father - a sign-writer in New York by trade.



He said: ' To me, the most important experience you take away from my work is the story. I’m providing you with clues to a narrative, telling a story with minute details.

Canal Street Cross-section (2009-2010) 27in x 23in x 19in (detail 1): A major Wolfson work, which will be exhibited at New York's Museum of Arts & Design from June 7, shows the Canal Rubber store at street level (a quarter has been added to show the scale of the piece)

Canal Street Cross-section (detail 2): Below street level, the Subway station is shown in all its derelict glory, with graffiti and trash (but, what's this, no rats on the rails?)

Canal Street Cross-section (detail 3): The Subway car itself makes the third level of the cross-section. The graffiti is still clear, as well as the slashed upholstery and a 'I Love New York' sticker

'There are no people in these scenes, but so much of what is there are the things people have left behind - the graffiti, the trash, tips on a counter, a half-eaten hamburger. The real impact of my work is not in how small everything is but in the stories these small things tell. '

Wolfson has been creating miniature urban environments since the mid-1970s.



All of the works are designed and built from scratch, and have been shown in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe.



Linda Chase, of the Louis K Meisel gallery in New York, said: 'Wolfson’s small, sculptured environments are mini slices of life full of intriguing contradictions. They exude a photographic or cinematic sense of reality while rarely depicting actual scenes or places. Creating them over the last 20 years, Wolfson has forged a unique place for himself in contemporary art.'

Lor-Al Diner (1987) 14in x 24in x 24in: All of the works are designed and built from scratch, and have been shown in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe

Art and the artist: The Casbah Club is one of Wolfson's 'smaller' works. The artist himself, above right, has been making miniatures for more than 30 years



One of his major pieces, a cross-section of Canal Street (showing the street level, the subway station below and the subway car below that), will be on display with pieces from other miniature artists at the Museum of Arts & Design, s tarting June 7

Wolfson said: 'I wanted to build a piece that resembled a core sample of a city street. As though you took a street, dug it up, and lifted it straight off the Earth... The street scene is not an exact representation of Canal Street, but rather a combination of existing and fabricated environments.



'The Canal Rubber store is modelled after the real thing - a landmark on Canal Street since 1954. The pizza place on the corner was inspired by one that existed on Eighth Ave - I liked the signage.



'I decided to throw in the Chinese massage parlour both to give it a touch of Chinatown and also to spice it up a little. The other business establishments on the street were modelled to give the feeling of how Canal Street looked in the late 1970s.'

Canal Street Cross-section (detail): Wolfson's work is so highly detailed that the quarter resting against the Subway pillar looks like the unreal part of the image. Internal lighting effects add to the realism of the works

Under the microscope: Village Cigars and Ma's Home Cooking are perfect reproductions of life in New York, if not scale versions of real places and establishments





