Meet Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka who turns steamed buns, baumkuchens and toilet rolls into miniature art scenes of Christmas in his Hong Kong exhibition

Tanaka’s working life began in the marketing and advertisement industry; he spent time as a graphic designer, art director and copywriter, all of which required a keen eye for detail. In 2011, he started creating miniature model on the side with materials he had at work—sometimes for fun, but at other times to create prototypes for his graphic designs. “For my job [in advertising and graphic design], I rarely worked with human models [but products]—I realised that I could work with miniature art [to create interesting results],” he says. “I started posting my work on Instagram, which attracted a lot of attention, which is how my miniature art career started.”

The artist finds inspiration mostly from his life, saying: “I like turning what we use and see in our daily lives into art.” For example, the face mask swimming pool piece was inspired by the pandemic. “Before Covid, people around the world rarely wore face masks, except for Japanese people. But during the pandemic, the whole world was wearing them; so much so that they became symbolic [of a human crisis],” he says. “I decided to turn this item into a set that highlighted the situation we were in. I hoped my work could give people joy. The pandemic was a trying time; people had a lot of uncertainty about the future. I wanted to uplift people from sadness by injecting humour into something like face masks. I want to breathe new life into ordinary objects.”

He finds a lot of his most creative—and cheekiest—ideas for his work by watching his children play. “They’re also my best quality checker,” he says. “I can spend anywhere between three hours to half a day to create a single piece of art. I can get numbed in the process. So I show my children my creations: if they don’t know what I’m trying to say in my work, it means I’ll have to find another way to express it. But if children understand my work, that means adults can too.”

Since he started making his miniature worlds professionally 13 years ago, Tanaka has created more than 6,000 works of art. It is almost impossible for him to pick a favourite.

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He believes part of the appeal of his mitate art is that it is “universal and direct. Different cultures and peoples can be connected instantly.” Perhaps this is why, after he saw the giant versions of his miniatures produced by the mall for his December exhibition in Hong Kong, he was inspired to mix up his own practice in a perhaps unexpected way. “I want to start making pieces which are bigger and will have a great visual impact,” he says.

Not that the artist seems to be short of ideas—or enthusiasm—for his work. The dark-haired, softly spoken, dark-besuited Tanaka looks nothing like Santa Claus as he stands next to a sculpture of a reindeer pulling a sleigh in Harbour City’s gallery for the photo shoot. But his childlike sense of wonder matches that of the man in the red outfit when he talks about his work. “I don’t see being miniature artist as a career. Once you do, you lose the fun. So you can always see in my pieces things that I like, such as film and animation characters. I like it when my art is fun and refreshing, and makes people happy.”

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