Techniques
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Mosaic is one of the oldest, most durable and most functional art forms. Its colors never fade out, and its materials withstand the sun, the rain, the frost and even centuries of burial, the reason why Mosaic not only decorates the interior walls of museums, galleries, halls, and houses but also their exteriors and open air spaces. Mosaic certainly gives architects and designers the opportunity to add to these spaces lasting life in radiance Smalti, Marble and Granite: I love all colors; I cannot claim to have a favorite one, because each has its own symbolic and artistic aura. We live in a world of endless color variations. These colors invade our visions, dreams, and thoughts to inspire our intellectual and imaginative faculties. I am a painter in love with colors and working with Mosaic, that is why I chose the Smalti, which is the most colorful tesserae with a highly light-reflective surface. Smalti creates beautiful and brilliant plays of light on the surface patterns; one can never get bored looking at it. As I have an innate love to natural stone, I created this mix between Smalti, Marble and Granite. Their magnificent natural colors have always amazed me and called me to use them. (Smalti are rectangular chunks of opaque glass 10x15x7mm are hand-made in Italy.) Byzantine Indirect Technique: After I draw the image on a canvas, I start cutting my desired pieces of smalti to small sizes varying from 5 to 1 mm. Then I glue the pieces face down and add the marble and granite. Here I have to use my imagination to figure out the harmony of colors and shape, because the backside of these stones is coarse and not polished. I cannot see how my artwork looks like until after I fill it with concrete and turn it to the other side. After this stage, the work, which usually takes about a month or two to finish, cannot be fixed any more. Thus for me the most exciting part of all is the minute I uncover my artwork to see how these 2 media come together successfully. |
