World’s Smallest Painting

1991 | Oil paint, plastic, wire; 2.5 ins. high

THIS LANDSCAPE IN the style of Titian was painted in an effort to create fine art on a scale that would be affordable by average people. Because large oil paintings use far more materials in canvas, pigments and seizing than smaller works, and because their scale generally requires many more work hours to complete, I created this painting as a prototype for a new, affordable art. With miniaturization on this scale, even those of modest means can afford to own a masterpiece. The painting was also submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records in the category “small artworks” with the expectation that it would be awarded official status as the World’s Smallest Painting, but that honor went to a copy of DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa” rendered on the head of a pin.