If there is a more unsettling yet fascinating fusion of the cute and the grotesque than tiny baby head sculptures, then one would be hard-pressed to find it. Qixuan Lim, born-and-raised in Singapore and now based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, makes these and several other tiny sculptures as a sideline to her work as an information designer.
In addition to the heads of miniature sleeping babies, Lim also fashions ceramic sculptures of tiny torsos, utensils, hearts (occasionally with teeth), animal skulls, pigs, and forearms—most of them about the size of a thumbnail. Like the unknown artist who sculpted tiny, ornate prayer beads depicting heaven and hell, her work is at once beautiful and disturbing. And like Stéphanie Kilgast’s delectable, miniature food sculptures, Lim’s extremely small ceramics are uncannily crafted.
Lim started sculpting about five years ago. At the time, she was working on an art show during which she was mentored by Pann Lim, a respected figure in Singapore’s the creative scene.
“At that point, I had never sculpted anything seriously before, but I have always been fascinated with morbid curiosities and science fiction,” Lim says. “I think it was this personal fascination fueled by the hunger to impress someone I really respected that resulted in my first sculptures. I think I just fell in love with sculpting right after that and wanted to do it more.”
Lim sculpts the tiny objects using polymer clay and a mix of colors like beige and red. She doesn’t mix them very evenly, and occasionally layers thin bits of clay until they achieve the relative transparency of human skin or flesh.
Sometimes, Lim features the tiny babies breaking out of eggshells or packaged in pill blister packs. Other times she wraps the baby heads in transparent plastic like pieces of candy. Lim had planned to explore this concept in greater detail for a show, but ultimately shelved the idea, though she hopes to one day resurrect the project.
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