"Restoration Test" 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. In this mosaic entitled "Restoration Test," Kii approaches art as a process of repair and healing, not simply creation. Guided by damage inflicted upon the mosaic, Kii treats restoration as an opportunity for change and explores how pattern and texture can be predetermined by negative space.