Minuscule masterworks Robert Pasternak's show offers big inspiration in small packages By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 4:54 PM CDT Monday, Jun. 1, 2026

Imagine coming across two small, shiny pieces of foil — the kind you might peel off a chocolate novelty, crumpled on the ground. One royal purple and silver, one lipstick red and silver.

Some people would look at these discarded bits and see trash. Robert Pasternak sees art.

“They must have been close together on the ground, and it was like, wow, what a beautiful pair these are,” the Winnipeg visual artist says with a laugh.

And indeed, when flattened onto backdrops, framed and hung together, they are no longer foil wrappers but bold, graphic pieces of modern art, right at home on the white walls of a contemporary art gallery. A tiny gallery, that is.

The Art of Noticing, Pasternak’s aptly titled solo show on display now at Katie + Gunner Gallery, is all about playing with perception and scale. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a full miniature art gallery, with 90 pieces of original artwork, at 1/12 scale, which is commonly used for dollhouses. A gallery within a gallery.

The miniatures include a variety of mediums, including sculpture, drawings and paintings. Others are fashioned out of the detritus of creating: pieces of colourful masking tape from a larger project, for example, are layered to look like contemporary abstract paintings. There’s also the assemblage pieces: a child’s forgotten school work, made into a blurry watercolour by the spring slush, or the aforementioned chocolate foils.

Though small, it’s easy to imagine all of these pieces as large-scale wall-fillers; they have the same visual heft.

Pasternak — whose Renaissance-man art practice also includes graphic design, experimental comics, performance and film — has several full-sized works on the main gallery walls as well, but he’s always had a fondness for working small.

“It’s really more for the economy of the space, whether working space or the amount of materials,” he says.

There’s some creative freedom afforded, as well.

“There’s a bit more freedom to make mistakes because you’re not invested in a ginormous canvas or a very nice large sheet of paper. There’s a quicker scale of discovery in making the art; it’s not like one large piece cut up in smaller pieces. It allows for a really quick response to what you’re doing,” he says.

“And then there’s just the love of miniature, or small things — the world of miniature doll houses, the 1/12 scale, the talent — the skill — involved in making all these little things is incredible.”

“Look at the ground or look at the sky, and just noticing those things – a crumpled foil wrapper.”

That love of tiny things — as well as his ability to see art in the unexpected — goes way back. He recalls being five or six years old and being quite taken with a package of Ronson flints at a corner store, bright red in yellow plastic.

“I needed to have this thing,” he says with a laugh. “I had no idea what it was, it was just this package. The guy behind the counter was probably perplexed, because I wasn’t buying candy or a chocolate bar.”

Playfulness is at the heart of Pasternak’s practice, particularly evident in his collection of novelty objects, which includes Fun Gum. It comes with instructions on what you can do with the bright pink “gum” — though if you need further inspiration, there’s a sculpture in the miniature gallery. Or a teeny tiny TV that actually plays his films.

“These things amuse me to no end,” he says.

There is also a dollhouse component to the gallery: a tiny office filled with tinier details, right down to a milk crate overflowing with crumpled paper and an open art portfolio containing actual art.

The Art of Noticing is an invitation to slow down and discover what you notice when you do — not just in the gallery, but in your own life. Inspiration truly exists everywhere; Pasternak once did a series based on the geometry of an unfolded butter wrapper.

“There’s a number of different examples of just seeing things out of the corner of your eye, or seeing things not intended to be seen, but you notice it because it’s beside something else. There’s a crumpled piece of paper you’re going to throw out — oh, but wait a minute, that’s kind of neat. It has these marks, it’s sort of an abstract thing,” Pasternak says.

Anybody can master the art of noticing. It just takes practice.

“Stop halfway through what you’re doing, and, OK, what am I doing? What am I seeing? What am I looking at? You could do that when you’re walking. Just stop and look. Look at the ground or look at the sky, and just noticing those things — a crumpled foil wrapper.”

The Art of Noticing runs till June 6.

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