Artwork you can’t see, worth more than $30k!
Yes it’s true, some people actually pay big money for artwork that they can’t see – at least not with the naked eye.
To the casual observer, William Wigan’s artwork appears no more than a speck of dust resting on top of a pinhead. However, simply slipping it under an electric microscope (yes, I spelled that right – not an electron microscope … an electric one) will show you that there is a full-color miniature Elvis Presley sculpture on top of it.
Grab the next pin in his collection and you will have a near perfect rendition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves – complete with the evil witch of a stepmother.
Of course working on such detailed miniscule masterpieces has both rewards (almost $30,000.00 each) and it’s dangers – perhaps he is the only artist in the world to have inhaled one of his full sculptures!
While working on his Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter Tea Party, he committed the mistake of inhaling at the wrong time. Alice was never found again!
Here are more of his work:
William made a boxing match no bigger than a matchstick head:
A little girl resting on a strand of human hair:
How He Does It
So how does he do it?
He meditates to bring down the rate of his breathing and his heartbeat. Using a scalpel, he then carves out matchsticks, sand, sugar, salt, etc. doing quick cuts in time with the lull between heartbeats. Wigan describes the process as akin to piercing a bubble without bursting it.
Cool. I have some spare matchsticks and sugar cubes around … you willing to try?
Sources:
William Wigan’s Official Site
The Daily Mail
Urban Legends
Popularity: 6% [?]
September 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
greatness… this indeed is one incomparable skill…am i willing to try? not for a million bucks
September 4th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I tried … but I don’t think cutting a grain of salt in half quantifies as sculpting
September 8th, 2007 at 9:46 am
:O
that guy is a genius!!
September 15th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Seeing him and his work this weekend in the Birmingham Art Fest Event. I am much impressed. The man is a genius!visionary Artist of the past William Blake ‘see the world in a grain of sand’ but Wigan sculpted in a grain of sand.incredible,beyond this world!’
May 20th, 2009 at 5:05 am
heyyy hows it goin??
and how do you make those little models??
also i think that is soo good that u can do that
and plz will you talk back plz
May 20th, 2009 at 5:09 am
how is this even possible. you cant make a wretling match smaller than a match head.will you visit beech school plz
May 31st, 2009 at 10:40 am
in the words of Bart Simpson “I could do that but I don’t wanna”…lol..JK!! it’s fantastique!
September 10th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I saw him on wfld tv Chicago, He is simply amazeing to be able to do the thing he does, and to control his heart and pulse when he does it.
He is having an exhibit in the downtown area tonignt, I will try to make it.
July 27th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
I can’t believe it ..How cool is that ..I wish I was able to do something like that..
September 21st, 2010 at 3:40 am
I would say that it takes nerves of steel to produce an entire art museum in a shoe box!