New York is a huge city, but American designer, Alan Wolfson, has shrunk parts of it down to the size of a doll’s house.
Since the 70s, Wolfson has crafted his architectural sculptures by hand, capturing each building’s story and the colourful culture of the city. Wolfson constructs miniature train stations, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and more; the vibrancy of his urban sceneries is accentuated his replication of the colourful local graffiti and typography.
Each of Wolfson's work takes months for him to complete and are formed partly from a mixture of his memories and experiences of New York, and partly from his imagination. Wolfson paints each piece as if it was a photograph, capturing places that thousands of people pass through each day, including Coney Island and Chinatown.
Although Wolfson is focused on the tiny details of his sculptures, his interest in the history of the city is evident in his work, and next to each piece he often explains his relationship with the building and its story. In Wolfson’s Ma’s home cooking piece, for example, he modelled the building on a previous restaurant on Doyers Street in NYC Chinatown, referencing the fact that the street used to be referred to as “Bloody Angle” because of the Tong Wars that were fought there in the early 20th century.
To view more of Wolfson’s work, click here.
All image credits: Alan Wolfson. To Atlantic Avenue, 1982
