Miniature Calendar by Tatsuya Tanaka. Image from Amazon.co.jp [1]
Using common household items, Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka has been creating tiny whimsical dioramas every day since April 20, 2011.
Photos of more than 1,500 dioramas have been published on his website as a Miniature Calendar [2], which is also for sale on Amazon's Japanese site [1]. He also uploads photos of his creations onto Instagram [3], where he has attracted a mass following of more than 260,000 followers.
Tanaka, whose Instagram profile says he works as an art director for an advertising agency in rural Japan, says on his website [4] about the project:
Everyone must have had similar thoughts at least once.
Broccoli and parsley might sometimes look like a forest, or the tree leaves floating on the surface of the water might sometimes look like little boats. Everyday occurrences seen from a pygmy’s perspective can bring us lots of fun thoughts.
I wanted to take this way of thinking and express it through photographs, so I started to put together a “MINIATURE CALENDAR” These photographs primarily depict diorama-style figures surrounded by daily necessaries.
Just like a standard daily calendar, the photos are updated daily on my website and SNS page, earning it the name of “MINIATURE CALENDAR”
It would be great if you could use it to add a little enjoyment to your everyday life.
Here is a selection of just a few images of his dioramas that he has posted to Instagram. The photos typically include a whimsical (and sometimes nonsensical) caption:
Man: We want to install more solar panels!
Worker: Well, that's gonna cost money!
“Without us having to do anything at all, time continues on like an escalator.”
“Tatooine is sure hot.”
“Just a moment, I'm going to Google it.”
“Time to pull out the soldering iron.” (I just wanted to try saying that)
“Bamboo forest.” We grow straight and tall, without bending.
(Holiday: July 7th is the Tanabata Festival [11])
Why does it have to be rainy on Sun-day?
It's July 1st… Summer's here and surf's up!
Check out Tatsuya Tanaka's Instagram feed [3] for more photos.