Erik A. Frandsen

Very Large Scandinavian Stained Glass Mosaic Window "Boxing Gloves"

2006

Intricate, ethereal and highly textured, the abstract compositions of Japanese mosaic artist Toyoharu Kii reflect a sophisticated approach to the technical art of mosaic making. Clas...

Isabelle Scheltjens’ elegant glass portraits celebrate materiality. Growing up with a love of pop art, Scheltjens infused her passion with natural talent and years of education at SI...

Intricate, ethereal and highly textured, the abstract compositions of Japanese mosaic artist Toyoharu Kii reflect a sophisticated approach to the technica...

Intricate, ethereal and highly textured, the abstract compositions of Japanese mosaic artist Toyoharu Kii reflect a sophisticated approach to the technical art of mosaic making. Classically trained in Florence, Italy, Kii creates his modern mosaics using traditional techniques and materials, including hand-cut Italian marble and Venetian smalti glass. Eschewing the figural in favor of the abstract, his mosaics rely on contrasts of pattern and form to convey complex themes and achieve visual harmony. Toyoharu Kii’s latest body of work “Geophytes” continues themes of rebirth and renewal. A reference to plants that regrow from hidden elements beneath the earth’s surface, the series celebrates the resilience of the natural world. Each mosaic is imagined as a landscape that documents a history of environmental damage due to human activity, and the subsequent return of nature as a restorative force. Through the juxtaposition of patterns and the interplay of order and disorder, Kii creates man-made “images of destruction” and finds hope in the future by “reconstructing nature.” In this mosaic entitled "Ghost (Big Wings)," Kii takes a more representational approach to his storytelling, creating figurative drawings out of thin lines of tesserae. The mosaic belongs to his “Ghost” triptych, wherein Kii uses “wings” to represent the presence of a heavenly being, the ghosts of past spirits or the presence of an angel or guardian. In “Ghost (Big Wings),” Kii mourns the extinction of many creatures due to environmental change and imagines their lonely spirits wandering the earth. Enveloping their silhouettes is “a bird with big wings,” writes Kii, depicted here within a dense mosaic of abstract patterns, a symbol for nature’s healing power. “The bird consoles...

Artist Commentary: This model stated during the photo shoot that ever since elementary school she has felt a strong connection to the earth and that as an adult has embraced the iden...

Artist Commentary: Worked with a model for the initial photoshoot. While perusing through the images I had just taken I selected this particular one and said to the model "you look v...