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The thought of living in a small space sounds both enticing and daunting to me, but so goes life in NYC. In Brooklyn, Zach Motl makes the most of a small space. His 178 sq. ft. apartment is masterfully designed. Three great things about it: areas are clearly defined, it’s organized, and it showcases Zach’s great sense of style. If not for this attention to aesthetics, a space this small could easily feel more like a closet than a place to call home.

A recent New York Times article about Motl’s apartment says, “One-room living works well if you clearly define areas” and one of the ways Zach does this is with artwork. A large framed map anchors the couch,

and the walls of his wet bar display a collection of framed art and art objects.

Here the artwork draws attention to each area and functions as punctuation, allowing the eye to pause and notice that this is where a specific activity takes place.

“He knows how to hit the sweet spot that turns a bunch of objects, like stacks of magazines, into a collection,” the New York Times wrote, “and how to array those objects so they look sculptural.”

Zach’s “artfully arranged stuff” epitomizes this space, where everything from lighting to chalkboard-doors to Wellingtons become art.

Zach’s sophisticated apartment proves that living gracefully in a small space can happen with an artful eye. Get organized, punctuate areas with art, and with your own distinct flair you will surely create a very cozy sense of home.

Photos: Robert Wright for The New York Times

While researching tiny art for my previous post, I came across some examples of art that were not small in size themselves. Instead, the artwork portrayed tiny subjects—or subjects that at least appeared tiny.

NPR’s “The Picture Show” featured some extremely beautiful microscopic images assembled by scientists at the University of Wisconsin for an exhibit called “Tiny: Art From Microscopes at UW-Madison.” Who knew fruit fly embryos and mouse lungs could be so gorgeous?

A series of images from the blog Pink Tentacle shows paintings of tiny insects made with the aid of a microscope by the Japanese artist Kenbikyō Mushi No Zu during the mid-nineteenth century. Below is one example of the paintings from the scroll.

from Kenbikyō Mushi No Zu's (”Illustrations of Microscopic Insects”), published in 1860

Tilt-shift photography, on the other hand, portrays full-scale images in a way that makes them appear to be miniature godzilla sets. While digital cameras create this effect via software, film cameras produce it with a special lens. Unlike a standard lens which have a fixed focal plane, a tilt-shift lens has a focal plane that can shift and concentrate the focus onto one point. The image below is a full-scale image of an airport.

Vincent Laforet for Smashing magazine

The tilt-shift effect on video is even more disorienting. The people in them look like tiny claymation sculptures moved in increments from frame to frame. They’re not! Keith Loutit’s video, Beached, is an awesome example that’s really worth watching. Enjoy!

Smaller works of art draw the viewer in. There’s no standing back to see the whole image. Details emerge. You’ll want to step closer to get a better look.

"Public Good" by David Opdyke 12" x 12" x 6"

Some smaller pieces of art were never meant to hang on a wall. In fact, many have been created for the eyes of a loved one only. This velvet-lined self-portrait is pocket-sized. It was painted on ivory in 1828 by Sarah Goodridge, for her the man in her life—the famous American statesman Daniel Webster.

Beauty Revealed, Sarah Goodridge, Watercolor on ivory, 2 5/8" x 3 1/8"

Daniel Webster, looking cranky despite the pretty picture in his pocket. Stock Montage/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Other less intimate but equally diminutive pieces work quite nicely on a bookshelf. This one—a 4″-square landscape from New Zealand—graces mine:

4"-square landscape painting by New Zealand artist Lianne Adams-Tull on bookshelf

Some smaller pieces of art really need to be seen on the wall to get their full effect. Look at this close-cropped portrait of Robert De Niro on Zatista’s virtual room to see the great impact even the most diminutive portrait can have:

Heat 2, by Michael Davis, Acrylic, 9.8 ” x 7.9 ”

(Coincidentally, De Niro’s father, Robert De Niro, Sr. was a famous abstract expressionist painter.)

If you like the idea of famous people in small packages, there’s a show of Polaroids shot by Andy Warhol from the 70′s and 80′s of legendary athletes (Pelé, Dorothy Hamill, and Muhammad Ali, to name a few) at Danziger Projects in New York City through December 12.

What tiny works of art appeal to you?