David Hourigan has made tiny versions of the Tote, the Espy and many more down to the cigarette butts and band posters, wanting to ‘preserve these before they disappear’ It’s a tiny subject, but a big question: why are humans innately drawn to miniatures? Is it something about rediscovering the power we felt as children playing with toys, little gods in charge of our own dominions? Is it because these small worlds feel reassuringly contained among all the chaos of our own? Is it sheer appreciation for the delicacy and patience required to make them? Or is it simply because watching someone cook tiny meals over a tealight (86m views and counting) is really, really cute? If, like me, you are mad for small things, you will appreciate the work of David Hourigan, whose new exhibition is dedicated to his models of beloved music venues around Melbourne. His intricate miniatures are so realistic that it can be hard to tell whether you are looking at a photo of the Espy or the Tote – until Hourigan’s big hands loom into view, popping a matchstick down to reveal the scale of his painstaking work. It is very soothing to watch him construct a perfect CCTV camera out of a Carlsberg can, or piece together colonial windows with tweezers. Continue reading...

Perhaps I can go through the rest of my life as a cartoonist reading only good news stories – I’m sure nobody will notice * Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published * Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...