Artworks - Willard Wigan

Born in 1957 in Birmingham, Willard Wigan began his artistic life at a tender age. Suffering from dyslexia and learning difficulties, he struggled at school and found solace in creating art of such minute proportions it couldn’t be seen with the naked eye and therefore couldn’t be criticised. “It really began when I was just five years old,” says Willard. “I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats. It was a fantasy world I escaped to where my dyslexia didn’t hold me back and my teachers couldn’t criticise me. And that’s how my career as a micro-sculptor began.” From that day to this, Willard’s celebrated micro-sculptures have become more and more minute so that they are only visible through a microscope – some are only three times the size of a blood cell. Each piece commonly sits within the eye of a needle, or on a pin head. Some of the most renowned pieces in the Willard Wigan collection, which was purchased by former Davis Cup captain turned entrepreneur, David Lloyd, in May 2007 for an undisclosed sum, are Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston, and Yellow Brick Road: The Wizard of Oz. Willard Wigan’s work has been described as “the eighth wonder of the world” and he has just received his MBE for services to art. Unsurprisingly his life is also attracting significant attention from the literary and film industries alike, each eager to secure Willard’s life story. Some pieces are available as limited edition prints, please contact the gallery for more information. GalleryOne would like to thank Richard Battye for the photography of Willard's work.