"Mr. X's Hill" Mosaic by Toyoharu Kii

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. Kii explains his inspiration for this mosaic, entitled "Mr. X's Hill." “It is an expression of development. A developer is digging a hill for somebody to make a residential estate, so the hill is destroyed. The development is destruction of earth. Near my own house there were once hills and green fields, but now there are houses. It is sad we must alter natural circumstances to live.”