Shropshires Hammond Galleries brings possibly the worlds best micro Sculpture artist to Wolverhampton, for the World Premiere exhibition of the worlds smallest zoo. Mr Lindon is a master at his craft, find out more and how Amy Winehouse lives in his carpet .....sort of....
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00:00 When you're ready boss.
00:02 Hello there. Welcome to the smallest zoo in the world.
00:05 I'm Edward Hammond and I'm the founder of the smallest in the world series of exhibitions.
00:10 We look forward to welcoming you to Wolverhampton train station to come and view them for yourselves.
00:15 And sir, you represent Hammond galleries.
00:18 I do indeed.
00:19 You are the Mr Hammond.
00:20 I am Mr Hammond. I own Hammond galleries in Chiffnall and also founded the smallest in the world exhibition.
00:28 Well that's it. This kind of concept, this idea, this is your baby, your project.
00:33 Absolutely. It's been about two and a half years in the making.
00:36 It's an awful lot of hard work but I'm absolutely delighted that it's all come together.
00:40 And with the outstanding artwork of David A. Linden, it is a world first and it's an absolute delight.
00:47 All the family should be able to come and see what it is.
00:51 David Linden.
00:52 Hello. Hi. How are you?
00:53 The man of the moment.
00:55 Thank you.
00:56 David, this work is fantastic.
00:59 Thank you very much.
01:00 You must be a very patient man to create these micro sculptures.
01:03 What we have here is two years of work.
01:05 Each animal takes two months to create.
01:08 So it's two years of my life, blood, sweat and tears, that have gone into making this exhibition.
01:13 So I'm very proud that I've been able to put this together and I hope that people who are at Wolverhampton will come and enjoy it.
01:19 You can learn about the animals but you can also learn about the art itself.
01:24 You can learn about the conservation.
01:26 You can learn about where the animals live, the challenges they face in this difficult world which we have impacted.
01:32 So it's educational, it's fun and it gives you an insight into the micro art.
01:38 How difficult it is to create art in the eye of an eagle.
01:41 I was reading a little bit about you.
01:43 Am I right in saying you work of an eagle so there's less vibrations?
01:48 Yes. People ask me why do you work at night?
01:51 I work at night because of passing traffic.
01:54 A lorry, when it drives past the house, it can make, when I'm sat at the microscope, it can make the art vibrate.
02:00 So I have to wait until the road's quiet, I wait until the house is quiet, I close all the windows, close the curtains
02:07 and then I can sit for hours and hours and hours and create art.
02:12 So that means you've been a nightshift for two years.
02:14 Yes, yes it does.
02:16 Is it quite a relief to switch back to normal day time living there?
02:19 It is, I've got a dog and a son, oh my goodness, yes.
02:22 It really is a relief to have a normal day where I can get up, go and walk the dogs.
02:28 And do you have to get yourself in the right mental state in terms of being relaxed and still, inner stillness sort of thing?
02:35 Yes, I have to work literally between heartbeats.
02:38 I don't enjoy what I do but I do enjoy the look of wonder on people's faces when it's done.
02:44 But I have to sit still for hours and hours and hours, I can't drink too much, I've got to try and avoid alcohol,
02:50 I can't drink too much coffee because that affects my nerves.
02:56 I've got to hold myself so still for hours and hours and hours, it's such hard work.
03:01 I've got to concentrate.
03:03 It's training like an athlete isn't it?
03:05 It's like doing a marathon.
03:07 Yeah, yeah.
03:08 It's like doing a marathon.
03:09 And have you been to Wolverhampton before?
03:11 I've been to Wolverhampton a number of times because Ed, my manager, lives not far from here.
03:16 So I've fallen in love with Wolverhampton, I really like Wolverhampton.
03:20 And I'm so happy that the people of Wolverhampton have given me this opportunity to hold my first solo exhibition in your lovely city.
03:28 So please come and enjoy it, learn about the animals, see my art and have a wonderful time over this Easter.
03:35 It's open seven days a week.
03:37 And it's quite interactive this exhibition isn't it? I'm learning. Just fill us in on what you mean by that.
03:43 Yeah, so people will have been to art galleries before, but maybe what they haven't seen is the immersive side that this exhibition brings.
03:51 So Smallest in the World has really thought about everybody that wants to come and visit.
03:55 So there's lights, there's tactile buttons, if you press you can hear the sound of the animals,
04:00 we have sign language and subtitles on the video and we also have QR codes that lead to audio descriptions.
04:07 So when we look around the exhibition, you're looking through a microscope to see something that you can't see with the naked eye.
04:13 But you can also have a look at the challenge towers, they're tactile, you can touch and feel and hear and watch.
04:19 And we've tried to make it immersive for as many groups as possible.
04:22 And that's the polar bear just kicking off in the background isn't it there because we've pressed the button.
04:26 Yes, we've done our research to make sure all of the noises are 100% accurate.
04:30 So David we were just chatting and I was just saying you must have times where you're 80-90% done and something breaks,
04:37 you lose something and you were just telling me a great little story.
04:40 Yes, a couple of years ago I was creating, I love Amy Winehouse, I'm always listening to Amy Winehouse when I create my art.
04:46 And I thought I'm now going to make an Amy Winehouse, I'm going to put it inside the Ivan needle.
04:50 And when I first started to do this, I made one and I thought well I'll make another one.
04:56 And the second one I made, which was quite good, I lost her.
04:59 She flicked away with like static electricity, she disappeared out of the microscope.
05:04 And then we were on our hands and knees at 2 o'clock in the morning trying to find her and we never did.
05:09 She could be on my shoe. I never found Amy Winehouse. So I had to go away and make another one.
05:15 You lost Amy Winehouse in your carpet.
05:18 Probably still in my bedroom somewhere.
05:20 Who could say that? Honey, I shrimp Amy Winehouse.
05:23 Here we go.
05:25 I've got a tripod in the back.
05:27 Wouldn't need all of it.
05:29 I can't put it all at the same time.
05:31 Because it's such a small equipment.
05:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]