Toyoharu Kii

"A Wheel Stopper, " Marble and Smalti Mosaic, 2014

2014

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

In the series “Heavenly,” Toyoharu Kii honors the fullness of life and its continual rebirth. In some works, white tesserae assume abstract profiles. In others, irregular shapes cont...

In the series “Heavenly,” Toyoharu Kii honors the fullness of life and its continual rebirth. In some works, white tesserae assume abstract profiles. In others, irregular shapes cont...

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...

An awesome and beautiful example on Campigli's Art of creating imaginative characters following his creativity, successfully experimented in paintings, and one of the very rare mosai...

Original Mosaic on cement panel. Ref.: Domus 1948, p. IX and p. 29. An awesome and beautiful example on Campigli's Art of creating imaginative characters following his creativity,...

Mosaic on cement panel, realized by Massimo Campigli in 1947. Unique piece, with certificate of authenticity on photograph by the artist's son Nicola Campigli on photo. Bibliograph...

medium: paint chip sample mosaic on panel Born in 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio, CARLTON SCOTT STURGILL received his Masters of Arts (Fine Art) from London’s Chelsea College of Art in De...