A room with a bookshelf of miniature oddities, an alligator with corn growing out of it, and a small workshop – these are just a few of the scenes you’ll see looking at Little Perspectives.
On April 12 on Madison Street, the Forest Park Arts Alliance unveiled its first public art installation, Little Perspectives. The six-foot-long box is covered in small windows, each which gives a view into a quirky little scene inside. It sits atop the currently idle public fountain at Constitution Court.
Forest Parker Ian Pfaff built Little Perspectives. He’s a director and editor in the film industry who, years ago, started building miniature props to use in his work.
“I always had this idea of doing what a director does when making a movie,” Pfaff said. But instead of filming live scenes, Pfaff created micro-size ones to be viewed in no specific order.
“I deliberately made them all meaningless,” Pfaff said.
For years, Pfaff said he’s been stockpiling small parts that he used in Little Perspectives. He deconstructed a doll house he bought at a thrift store, wrecked an old printer for parts, and used bits of small items that his friends brought him.
“I’m a very well-organized hoarder,” Pfaff said. His favorite part of his installation is a tiny TV that plays the movie “Road House” on a loop.
Though Pfaff has been envisioning Little Perspectives for a while, he said he wasn’t quite sure how it would all come together.
“I had the idea of what it was, but didn’t know what it was going to look like until it was done,” he said.
His reaction to completing the art installation, he said, was one of relief, that he could implement what he imagined in his head. He said his biggest challenge was transporting Little Perspectives from his nearby home.
Because his house is so close to Constitution Court, Pfaff said he’s been able to watch from his property as people walk by, discussing the installation or doing double takes to get a better look at it.
“The hope is that people see something that they think is fun and cool,” Pfaff said, adding that he wants spectators to take away their own meaning from Little Perspectives.
Little Perspectives will be at Constitution Court until the fountain turns on over Memorial Day weekend. After that, Pfaff said he plans to deconstruct his project and display its scenes at the Arts Alliance’s Garage Galleries on Aug. 23.
If Little Perspectives proves to be a hit, the Arts Alliance hopes to continue organizing arts installations at Constitution Court or throughout the rest of the village.
“We expect to learn a great deal from [Pfaff],” said Bridget Lane, the Arts Alliance’s secretary, of the pilot art installation at a February village council meeting. “We’re relying on him to tell us a lot about what works and doesn’t work.”