"Clouded VII" Mosaic by Toyoharu Kii

With the series “Clouded,” artist Toyoharu Kii honors the fullness of life and its continual rebirth. After birth every being bears the burden of change, like a cloud, on their pure spirit. Expressing his wish for clarity, Kii surrounds the marble figure in Clouded VII with a halo of 14k gold tiles to represent the soothing balm of heaven in the cycle of rebirth.

A leader of the cross-cultural craft resurgence, Japan-based artist Toyoharu Kii creates his intricate mosaics with hand-cut Italian marble and smalti, Venetian glass made by the same Italian family for over 400 years. Using traditional Italian techniques, Kii’s art is nonetheless modern and casts fresh light on the technical art of mosaic making.