The Unlikely Scale of Contemporary Art: Small but Mighty
In an art world dominated by grandeur and spectacle, a quiet revolution is unfolding. While many contemporary artists strive for scale, a growing number are turning to the intimate and the small. Jennifer J. Lee, a 47-year-old artist, embodies this shift. Best known for her contributions to Julie Mehretu’s monumental work, Howl, Eon (I, II), Lee’s own practice is markedly modest. Her paintings, often no larger than a postcard, are created in the cramped bedrooms of her Brooklyn apartment, which she shares with her husband, also an artist. These works, rendered on jute canvases, capture fragmented images from the internet—blue jeans, club sandwiches, and children’s playrooms—blurring the line between the digital and the tangible. For Lee, the small scale is not a limitation but an invitation: “I love being able to beckon someone to look at something.”
The Practicality of Small: Necessity and Intimacy
Lee is not alone in her preference for the miniature. Artists like Mia Middleton, Chris Oh, and Somaya Critchlow are part of a growing movement that prizes intimacy over spectacle. Middleton, a 36-year-old photorealist, creates Hitchcockian freeze frames on canvases no larger than a paperback novel. Oh, a 42-year-old painter based in New York and Portland, fragments Renaissance masterpieces onto the insides of shells and geodes. And Critchlow, a 31-year-old Londoner, captures portraits of Black women in works small enough to fit in one hand. For these artists, the small scale is not just an aesthetic choice but a practical one. With rising costs for materials, studio space, and shipping, small paintings are affordable to produce and easy to transport. During the pandemic, when many artists were confined to their kitchens, the small scale became a necessity.
A Return to Tradition: The Historical Roots of Miniature Painting
The tradition of small-scale painting stretches back centuries. In the 16th century, court painters created intricate miniatures that could fit in a locket or a small box. These works were not just decorative but deeply personal, meant for individual contemplation rather than public display. In the 20th century, artists like Giorgio Morandi and Forrest Bess carried on this tradition. Morandi, known for his tender still lifes, rarely left his apartment in Bologna, creating works that were as much about the quiet rituals of domestic life as they were about paint on canvas. Bess, a self-taught painter who lived in a small cabin in Texas, made abstractions the size of record sleeves, works that were both humble and profound. For these artists, the small scale was not a limitation but a kind of freedom.
The Anti-Spectacle: Small Paintings in an Age of Excess
In an art world increasingly dominated by spectacle, the small painting stands as a quiet rebuke to excess. While many contemporary artists rely on armies of assistants to create works that fill cavernous galleries, others are turning to the hand-made and the intimate. Jonathan Rider, a 41-year-old artist and director of the Flag Art Foundation, makes geometric collages the size of large index cards. For Rider, the small scale is not just a matter of practicality but a kind of resistance. “Why can’t we have a middle-class existence?” asks Lee. “Why do we have to make hundreds of thousands of dollars? All I’ve ever wanted is to keep going.”
The Intimacy of the Small: Art for One
Small paintings are more than just a practical response to the challenges of the art world. They are also a kind of antidote to the spectacle that has come to define so much of contemporary art. While large-scale works are meant to be experienced by crowds, small paintings are meant for one viewer at a time. They invite introspection and contemplation, offering a kind of intimacy that is hard to find in our increasingly public lives. As Middleton puts it, small paintings “creep up on you.” They are unassuming, unpretentious, and deeply personal, offering a quiet counterpoint to the noise of the art world.
The Future of Small: Sustainability and Simplicity
As the art world grapples with the challenges of sustainability, the small painting offers a way forward. In an age of climate crisis and economic uncertainty, the small scale is not just a practical choice but a deeply ethical one. For artists like Lee, Middleton, and Oh, the small painting is a way of living and working that is both sustainable and meaningful. It is a reminder that art does not have to be big to be powerful, that sometimes the smallest works are the ones that linger longest in the mind. As Lee says, “I love being able to beckon someone to look at something.” In a world that is increasingly overwhelming, the small painting is a quiet invitation to slow down, to look, and to see.
