Dan Ohlmann used to make cabinets. Now he makes worlds. Very tiny worlds, to be exact. For the last quarter century, this French artist and proprietor of the Musée Miniature Et Cinéma in Lyons has been creating highly detailed miniature scenes, taking real life locations and painstakingly shrinking them down to 1/24th of their original size. Museums, schools, theaters, and other locales have been replicated in the artist’s mind bogglingly intricate dioramas. It’s almost eerie, as if these places have been zapped with a shrink ray wielded by some science-fiction villain, while he remains full-sized and seemingly omnipotent. Ohlmann’s remarkable work is the subject of “Making Mini Worlds In Minute Detail,” a recent installment of the Great Big Story documentary webseries.
“When one makes miniatures,” Ohlmann declares in subtitled French, “attention to detail is fundamental.” He doesn’t skimp on those, that’s for sure. The artist’s work shows a level of hyper-obsessive perfection that might be troubling if both the man and his miniatures weren’t so instantly charming. He doesn’t work quickly, though. His scenes take about a year on average to complete. During that long gestation time, Ohlmann makes sure to capture every last bit of cutlery, every last picture hanging on the wall, and even every last bit of schmutz in the corner. “I make sure no element is missing,” he says. Believe him. Wee is his world.