"Cloud" Mosaic by Toyoharu Kii

Entitled "Cloud," this mosaic work by Japanese artist Toyoharu Kii tells a story of nature and rebirth. As with many of Kii's works, the lively and chaotic field of white marble tesserae depicts a fractured landscape, here represented as a swirling cloud of fragments. In the aftermath of wreckage, life returns slowly, creeping in shades of pale red. With time, nature begins to heal itself, cutting through the devastation with a thin current of color. In the artist's own words, "Cloud is a story of broken fragments. They were buried in soil and reappeared with leaves."

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.