"Landscape Divided" Mosaic by Toyoharu Kii

Intricate, ethereal and highly textured, the abstract compositions of Japanese mosaic artist Toyoharu Kii reflect a sophisticated approach to the technical art of mosaic making. Classically trained in Florence, Italy, Kii creates his modern mosaics using traditional techniques and materials, including hand-cut Italian marble and Venetian smalti glass. Eschewing the figural in favor of the abstract, his mosaics rely on contrasts of pattern and form to convey complex themes and achieve visual harmony.

Toyoharu Kii’s latest body of work “Geophytes” continues themes of rebirth and renewal. A reference to plants that regrow from hidden elements beneath the earth’s surface, the series celebrates the resilience of the natural world. Each mosaic is imagined as a landscape that documents a history of environmental damage due to human activity, and the subsequent return of nature as a restorative force. Through the juxtaposition of patterns and the interplay of order and disorder, Kii creates man-made “images of destruction” and finds hope in the future by “reconstructing nature.”

In this mosaic entitled "Landscape Divided," Kii explores the physical transformation of a landscape. The mosaic is fragmented by deep crevices that cut through the terrain, a seemingly insurmountable divide of man-made destruction. As is typical in Kii’s works, the grid-like arrangement of white tesserae surrounding these crevices represents the built environment. An angular shape of black and white stripes symbolizes man-made architecture, while nearby forms suggest the recesses of a ruined building or the scratched surface of an excavation site. Opposite these rigid outlines are amorphous shapes filled with chaotic patterns, representing the vitality of nature. Divided by the crevices, these signs of man and nature are kept separate, isolated from each other until the land is repaired.

“Landscape Divided,” 2023
Toyoharu Kii (b. 1953)
Marble mosaic and smalti on wood board.