"To and From" 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 evocative mosaic entitled "To and From," Kii experiments with contrasting patterns to create a sense of movement and direction. Imagining the ordered tesserae as pathways running in opposite directions, he considers the ways in which texture can map our surroundings and create discontinuity in our behaviors.