Joshua Smith and his urban miniatures

The Australian artist Joshua Smith is giving our readers a sneak peek of his latest work, a faithful replica of a locksmith shop in Kaohsiung, Taiwan that will be exhibited at the Arcade Art Gallery in Taiwan from 10 November.


When you see pictures of the artworks crafted by Joshua Smith for the first time, you would be totally forgiven for thinking they're photos of real buildings, when in actual fact they're scale miniatures.
With great dedication and patience, Joshua Smith uses wood, cardboard, plastic sheet, chalk, spray paint, wire and modelling plastic to craft these city buildings going into so much detail that they fool all but the keenest observer, leaving the rest of us simply stunned. A solitary task where the Australian artist leaves nothing to chance and that takes months to complete. 
Since he started crafting these miniatures a little over two years ago, Joshua Smith has shown how much he loves “real” buildings, not landmarks but places that are part of the gritty, grimy city, the city where people live and work. He researches everything really carefully, for example for the Hong Kong building he used Google Maps and when he needed to go further, he relied on his Instagram followers, who gave him more specific information. He even worked with graffiti artists to make everything as authentic as possible.
Joshua Smith's miniatures are like layered sculptures, exactly the same as real buildings: they tell stories that emerge through the involvement of a number of players, just like real cities. So, his miniatures may be replicas but they go way beyond just the ascetic architecture models developed in offices and have none of the glamour of doll's houses - they're real.
In the run-up to the 10 November opening of the exhibition “When The Sun Goes Down” at the Arcade Art Gallery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second biggest city, Joshua Smith has given us a sneak peek at the pictures that photographer and Visual Designer Ben Neale took of his latest creation - a locksmith shop located in the city on the Taiwan Strait and, apart from the die-cast scooter, built from scratch using reclaimed materials.

Christiane Bürklein

Artist: Joshua Smith
Instagram details: @Joshua_Smith_Street_Artist
Website: www.iknowjoshuasmith.com
Photographer: Ben Neale 
Instagram details: @ben_neale
Website: www.bneale.com
Arcade Art Gallery: https://www.arcadeartgallery.com/exhibitions