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 large mosaic entitled “Green in the Corners,” Kii depicts a landscape transformed by construction and demolition. The expanse of white tesserae represents a landscape shaped by human activity, a rigid environment of orderly, grid-like patterns. Moments of damage or loss interrupt the order and from these disruptions emerges vibrant new life. Nature begins to reclaim our built surroundings in the form of colorful, green smalti glass, filling the recesses of a ruined building and the scratched surface of an excavation site. In the artist’s own words, “in the corners of broken concrete blocks, flowers and plants survive, revealing the vitality of nature.”
“Green in the Corners,” 2021
Toyoharu Kii (b. 1953)
Marble mosaic and smalti.
