"New Frontier" Mosaic by Toyoharu Kii

“New Frontier” by Toyoharu Kii employs texture and line in a monochromatic mosaic to tell the tale of ambition and industry. By altering the arrangement of tiles and using dimensional shifts, the artist depicts the beginnings of a building development. Slashes represent felled trees, uneven levels suggest plowed earth, and larger size stones create the foundation for what’s to come.

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. It is monochromatic, abstract, and highly textured and highlights the involved and technical art of mosaic making.