We are thrilled to open Toyoharu Kii’s latest body of work “Geophytes”, titled after perennial bulbs that reinvent the landscape every Spring. The series celebrates the resilience of the natural world and the themes of rebirth and renewal.

Hidden Movements (Left) • Green in the Corners (Right)

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 microcosms that are tales of "destruction” from which nature "reconstructs" itself.

Spring • Reconstruction of Landscape (Left) | New Flower • Sabriel & Verchiel of "Heavenly" (Right)

Ethereal and highly textured, the abstract compositions reveal Toyoharu Kii's sophisticated and innovative 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.

Raguel • Jophiel • Gamaliel • Matriel of "Heavenly" (Top to Bottom)

“Heavenly” is an extension of the "Geophytes" series in which Kii honors the fullness of nature and its continual rebirth. In the "Heavenly" works, irregular shapes contain a disorderly array of jagged tiles, suggesting the unexpected moments that nature and life reveal. Expressing his wish for guidance, Kii surrounds each marble form with a halo of golden tiles, representing the company of a heavenly guardian in the natural cycle of rebirth.

“(In previous work), I was making images of nature destroyed, marred by broken roads and wreckage...this time, I’m reconstructing nature. The subject remains the same, but the story is different.” - Toyoharu Kii

Get Out of Town

Details: Disguised Flame and Stone Flower (Top Left) • Bush with Fragment (Bottom Left) • Spring (Top Right) • Green Tree - Artist Signature (Bottom Right)

“The difference of mosaic as an art media [compared to painting and two-dimensional art] is that we can use three-dimensional objects to express an image. We can use color and shadow and light all at once.”    - Toyoharu Kii