Slinkachu is a British street artist whose artwork is a mixture of sculpture, installation, street art and photography! He places miniature figures and objects in different scenarios and is inspired by landscapes, food and experimenting with scale and proportion.
Slinkachu is a British street artist who was born in Devon, UK in 1979. Slinkachu’s artwork is a mixture of sculpture, photography, street art and installation. He started to create street scenes using figures and mini objects in 2006 and has since exhibited photographs of his work in art galleries across the world. He has successfully published three different books showcasing his work.
Slinkachu Facts
- Slinkachu was born in Devon, UK in 1979
- His work has been published in three books: Little People in the City (Boxtree, 2009), Big Bad City (Lebowski, 2010) and Global Model Village (Boxtree, 2012)
- Slinkachu’s books have sold over 300,000 copies!
- He started creating miniature scenes in 2006
- The miniature characters that Slinkachu uses are from model train sets
- He cuts up his figures, creates poses he needs then paints them
- Slinkachu says he gets his ideas by ‘people-watching, reading the news and doodling in a sketchbook’
What themes can you pick out from Slinkachu’s artwork? Are they installations, street art, sculptures, landscapes or something else? Why? Could his artworks be all of these things at once?
Slinkachu uses very simple everyday objects to create his artworks, carefully thinking about the positioning of the miniature figures, the places they will be and the action poses they will be ‘frozen’ in. The artist Slinkachu could easily set up his figures in a studio, but decides to place them in the street where people might find them. He has said that his aim is to make people more aware of their surroundings and be surprised when they come across his artworks in the street.
In his artworks, Slinkachu creates his own mini-landscapes that show funny and humorous scenes using miniature figures arranged carefully. As well as figurines, Slinkachu often incorporates food and drink into his mini-landscape sculptures too. Although his art installations look simple, he makes his work to a professional standard (partly why it is so popular!) and uses different materials to ensure he gets the finish he needs.
What materials do you think Slinkachu has used to create the food and liquids in his work?
As well as having an element of humour, Slinkachu’s artwork invites viewers to think deeply about the world around them; Slinkachu has said that he wants his installations to:
…reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city; the universal sense of being overlooked, lost and overwhelmed.
Here are the materials and equipment I recommend to make artworks and photographs like Slinkachu. A high quality camera would be beneficial, particularly for photography classes or students, but it should also be value for money. Having a range of props would also help – be inventive!
Check out this behind the scenes clip showing Slinkachu working on an installation artwork in Paris!
What do you think of Slinkachu’s artwork? How could you create something similar? Let me know in the comments! If you have found any of these resources useful please share this site on your networks / socials – thanks! 🙂
DOWNLOAD this page below, for free, as an Artist Research handout to use in your lesson. It includes all of the facts and images, and has questions for students to answer.
The Art Teacher 