Onassis with Churchill sitting inside Onassis's yacht swimming pool which converted into a dance floor. This is a picture that inspired one of the best Mosaicology posts written back in 2010 called The land of the Minotaur and Onassis's swimming pool/dance floor.
This image is quite rare. I have tried to find more regarding this but with little luck.
A presto!
Please help me continue sharing the passion for mosaic(ology)
I was recently considering the trend in
mosaic art to render celebrities. A
celebrity work is great because it instantly communicates to the viewer that
the work is either a good likeness, or not.
Everyone becomes a member of that special club that recognizes the art
for what it is. One cannot get that kind
of result with a mosaic depicting fuzzy clouds, or strange abstract geological
features.
Of
course, 'celebrity work' doesn't mean that the celebrity creates the art. Maybe they would be worth more if the mosaic
was a celebrity self-portrait?
I
began to list out the mosaics of celebrities that came to mind. Popular works, like the portrait of Amy
Winehouse by Jason Mecier, used pills for tesserae.
This
choice of pills for tesserae really drives home one of the causes of the demise
of the celebrity, which was very clever to tie those things together.
Let
me Ctrl-Break it down for you… The Australian artist WBK (Guy Whitbey) uses images
of keyboard keys to render famous people. He uses photo images of old keyboard keys to
do the mosaic, very clever! As the old
expression goes, a million monkeys typing for a million years would still not
come up with works like this. Maybe this
is because a monkey would be interested in eating the keyboards?
Ed
Chapman in the UK has created many nice mosaics of celebrities with recycled
items. The subjects he has chosen to
represent happen to be celebrities that have also thrown things away, logical
connection right?Doesn’t the result remind you of fractured
egg shells, like one might find in the trash?
Below,
the gifted artist Vojna Bastovanovic seems to have perfectly recreated one of
the celebrity film stars of ‘101 Dalmations’. I recently phoned Pongo the dog about this wonderful portrait work. While the star and his agent didn’t comment
specifically on the art, the happy barking indicated a general sense of approval.
I
have also tried the celebrity mosaic to a lesser degree with my creation of a
Scarlett Johansen mosaic. I used mostly
rocks on the mosaic. While I'm not
entirely sure, I would imagine that Scarlett has touched rocks at some point in
her life. Was it clever to tie those
things together?
After
a look at what is out there from recent times, my thoughts turned to the
history of it all. For how long have
mosaic artists been patterning their work from the images of celebrities? I did some quick research and found a few earlier
celebrity mosaics.
Here
is Justinian Bieber by an unknown artist circa 500 A.D. As it probably does for you, the
resemblance is quite scary to me, for many reasons.
Constantine
was also very popular in his day…
In
any case, celebrity mosaics have been around for a while and probably always
will be. But, it’s interesting that in
the past year I think we’ve seen more than normal.
Lenny Kravitz against a background covered with the tiles he designed
Speakers
Known for his powerful and stimulating music now
also known for his design skill. More than just a knack for design, Lenny
Kravitz has a hidden talent. A talent that has found an outlet
in the form and shape of three-dimensional tiles juxtaposed in diverse ways.
Yes,
I have found out only just now too!
The Goccia (italian for "drop") collection designed by Kravitz and created in collaboration
with LEA Ceramiche is an expression
of his alter artistic ego and not easy to label as pertaining to a particular
style. Precisely just like with his music. Whenever you listen to a Lenny
Kravitz song you know it's him. His voice is inimitable. Well, I guess most
singers have a unique voice but Kravitz is more than that.
I recall a song of his that I guess it’s not
that famous. It’s called I built this garden
for us. If you haven’t heard it go ahead. This song alone shows
how gifted this musician/designer is. You can tell he could do amazing things. That
song was ahead of his times with a sound like no other (imho). Enchanting, emotional,
powerful and stimulating.
Lenny Kravitz is that kind of artist that stirs you
up. His looks, his music and now his art. His designs have something “musical”
about them as you will see if you go and browse through his official website. The
Goccia collection is a vivid example. The
tiles sort of resemble speakers ! At least that’s what I thought the moment I saw
them. Putting them together, you get the feeling of being in a recording
studio!
Besides
building idealistic gardens and sounds in a real three dimensional world,
Kravitz gives us new ways to use three dimensions in design. Stirring us up in
any case.
SICIS knows how to rock your world with huge mosaic portraits in dimensions that make your head turn, set your living space on glittery fire and set the record straight of how classy you are.
