Tiny Tragedies: Marcelo De Melo

For those who would relegate contemporary mosaics to the “decorative arts” section of the library, museum or art appreciation course, we would submit the work of Marcelo de Melo.  There is nothing pretty or decorative about it.  On the contrary.  It is often crude, awkward and somewhat difficult to look at.  It is also edgy, thought provoking and very clear in its intent.  Marcelo de Melo has a voice and he’s not afraid to use it.  Enjoy – Nancie

As an artist with an academic background in the study of history, the ancient technique of mosaic has a natural appeal to me. It is an art form with great expressive potential that has yet to be given serious consideration in the contemporary art world.

Much of the mosaic work being done today is in the abstract and focuses on the materiality of the technique – color, materials, textures, andamento, etc. I have chosen to use these elements to comment on highly controversial issues such as war and terrorism – themes more commonly associated with contemporary art practice.

In this sense, my work is always prompting an inquiry about the position of mosaics in relation to the contemporary art scene. It is an approach to mosaic practice that stimulates the viewer to have ideas that go beyond the physical characteristics of the work.  In this article, I would like to explore some of my works and give readers – both mosaic enthusiasts and the wider art audience – the opportunity to see these concepts at work within appropriate contextualizations.

2001 inspired by the classic Stanley Kubrick film of the same name is one of my earliest works. Here, I deal with themes of human power, technology and ephemerality. My use of “bone china” – a material containing small amounts of crushed animal bone – to create a fragmented femur reveals a subtle game that very much interests me: The juxtaposition of materiality with linguistics.

Like 2001, Hereditary Rose (2003) is made of bone china. The consequences of war and survival are the main themes of this work. More specifically, the effects of the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima at the end of WWII. It was inspired by a Brazilian song called Rosa de Hiroshima by Ney Matogrosso.

Hereditary Rose was selected for the 142nd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Scotland, in 2003 where it quickly gained notoriety. In 2004, it was exhibited at the MotoAzabu Gallery in Tokyo in conjunction with the Amnesty International Exhibition. It was photographed in the Peace Park in Hiroshima that same year.

American Gifts is a series of small scale works inspired by a visit to Vietnam in 2002 and protests against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This series deals with the immediacy of ideas, concepts and prejudices and at the same time contrasts the naïve with the conceptual, destruction with creation. Here I have used the picassiette technique, making use of found ceramics. This technique is usually deployed in a random manner, but here I have used it to give emphasis to concepts, to trigger further visual associations. Vitreous glass or smalti would have been inappropriate as their imprint of energy is different than those of recycled ceramics. I believe that each material has a unique inherent truth that I like to explore.

Many of my works can also be ‘read’ in literal terms. Words found by chance in certain types of crockery are carefully selected to inform the viewer and suggest the meaning of the piece. For instance the word ‘war’ cut from ‘ware’, encountered in a ceramics merchants seal.

 

From this series, Grenades (2005) was exhibited at the second edition of Rio Mosaico in 2009 which was presented at the Forte de Copacabana, a defunct military compound in Rio de Janeiro.

 

The work titled Concrete Evidence is directly inspired by the American Gifts series. Made from concrete cast in a mold from a 2003 missile, Concrete Evidence once more shows my interest in the materiality of objects and the titling of works. Here, I address the historicity of mosaics by a double reference: Iraq as a site of war, and Iraq/Mesopotamia as the birthplace of mosaics – and, in the end, the site of its destruction).

Also, by producing mosaics without effectively using tesserae, this work foregrounds the material process of mosaic making: an attempt to dematerialize mosaics.

Corpo Musivo (Mosaic Body) was created for the 2004 Prix Picassiette in Chartres, France, one of the art form’s most important events. For the Prix, I chose to question of the very historicity of mosaic art by exploring the relation between mosaics and religious iconography. This shapeless form is meant to shock, by desecrating techniques and materials precious to mosaic art. The smalti functions as a reference to the body of Christ and other religious figures widely portrayed in mosaics.

Shattered Dreams speaks to the turbulent life of a postmodern icon, Princess Diana. Referencing the language of Pop Art, Shattered Dreams can also be understood as a mosaic icon. With this work I address questions of tradition and popularity, the cult of celebrity and the cultural status of artistic practices. Material, technique and theme are again used to initiate a dialogue with the viewer.

Detail 1 [complies with safety standards ROULETTE] It is the rear number plate of the car. In this context, this found piece of ceramics suggests that a princess’ life, governed by rules and traditions, [complying with safety standards] is, like anyone else’s, subjected to fate [Roulette = Wheel of Fortune].

Detail 2 [mind your own damn business] It is the details on the top of the car, like the Union Jack on a Mini. This conveys Diana’s message to the paparazzi: leave me alone!

Relic was presented during the 2007 edition of Rio Mosaico, a time when there was a turbulent debate raging in Brazil about airport safety. By juxtaposing the image of the crucifix with that of an airliner, I explored themes such as religious conflict, terrorism, the limitations of technology and human vulnerability. Durable ceramics are mixed with ephemeral materials such as paper bar code labels and luggage tags. This is another example of how I have used mosaic techniques to make materials and the message of a work inseparable.

In Breath, I turned towards a non-European tradition and revisit ancient Aztec mosaics to create a narrative work. This death mask refers to an archetypical science fiction motive; that of the last survivor of a great catastrophe in the future. His remains are exhumed with what eventually turns out to be his funeral mask, a device originally intended to keep him alive.

Mosaic art today can be as conceptually challenging as any other art form and as such can be an inspiration to artists and viewers alike. That is why I dedicate great part of my career to understand and push the boundaries of this fascinating technique. Above all it is the informality that attracts me to it and the fun I can have playing with tradition.

Biography

Born and raised in Brazil, mosaic artist Marcelo de Melo has been living in Europe since 1996. His work has been exhibited worldwide at events including the Picassiette Prix in France, the Society of American Mosaic Artist’s Mosaic Art International in the US, The Ravennarte Young Mosaic Biennale in Italy and Rio Mosaico in Brazil.

De Melo graduated in History from the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, and recently completed an MA in Fine Arts at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, England. Currently, Marcelo lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Websites:

• www.mosaicable.co.uk
• www.mdemelo.com

Video of Ilana Shafir at RavennaMosaico 2011

The voice over for this video may be in Hebrew, but the joy and magic you will see transcends every possible boundary to appreciation.  Here is an artist in her prime being feted by luminaries from a community that she helped to found that includes artists she has nurtured and mentored.   What a night!

   Enjoy – Nancie

LATICRETE Presents: Lynne Chinn

“Mosaic is mesmerizing and very much like life.  There is choice, judgment, magic, coordination, shaping, fitting, complication, beauty, joy, quality and effort in every moment.”  -  Lynne Chinn

In 2011, Lynne Chinn was selected by esteemed gallerist and dealer Bernice Steinbaum to be one of the eight artists featured in MAN’s Exhibition in Print sponsored by LATICRETE.  Click on the link below to view the 4 page article showcasing Chinn’s award-winning work.

To Work Without Fear: Yakov and Yulia Hanansen

What can one generation pass down to the next?  In this reprint from an article first published in the 2010 edition of Mosaic Art NOW the magazine writer Paul Anater interviews father and daughter mosaicists, Yakov and Yulia Hanansen.

See our June 20, 2012 post on Yulia Hanansen’s latest exhibit here.

Cosmic Powers Earthly Flowers: Yulia Hanansen

Exhibiting now at the Cooperstown Art Association in Cooperstown, New York is stained-glass mosaic artist Yulia Hanansen.  The one-woman exhibit entitled “Cosmic Powers Earthly Flowers” combines two bodies of work; Hanansen’s “Starscapes” and “Flower Queens” series.

Stained glass as a medium is favored by many American mosaicists and Hanansen has been at the forefront of finding new ways to exploit the material for years now.  She was one of the first to employ a technique called “layered” mosaic where cut pieces are adhered on top of base layer of stained glass mosaic.  In an article profiling Hanansen in the 2010 edition of Mosaic Art NOW the magazine, writer Paul Anater described Hananen’s style in this way:

Her approach to mosaic is  that of a painter and she likens her placement of glass to brush strokes.  Just as there are no limits to the layers of paint that can be applied to a canvas, Yulia sees no limits on the layers of glass she can apply to her work surface.  The result is a degree of texture and depth that is unexpected in mosaic.  She brings to mosaic her sensibilities as a painter and printmaker and leaves the mosaic world all the richer for it.

When this work won Best in Show for Mosaic Art International 2011, we wrote:

The background is composed of dreamy, mottled color fields that indicate depth and large, slow movement. The tiny, lozenge-shaped pieces meticulously layered on top of the background provide a staccato, quick-moving counterpoint. Here is the mighty force of the universe at work up close and personal – the energy of chaos and creation personified.

Hanansen’s fascination with the cosmos has provided inspiration for years now.  She says:

Stars are like people with their eccentric personalities. Some burn bright and short, some burn dimmer and longer.  They exist in the infinity of space and time.

In these two different takes on the same subject matter – a solar flare – we can see how Hanansen has evolved her technique.  Here are the same lozenge shapes that she utilizes in almost almost all of her work, but the difference between 2-D and 3-D versions is nothing short of dramatic.  The 3-D version looks positively dangerous on many levels.

Hanansen feels that her layering technique is an essential part of conveying the aspect of infinity that is core to her cosmic subject matter.  She says:

The layered glass work is all about infinity.  In a traditional mosaic, the last tessera attached to the substrate defines the finishing mark for an artwork.  In a layered technique, the artist herself can decide when and where to place the last tessera and to end the mosaic process.

Hanansen’s earthly inspiration comes from flowers, a subject she has explored for many years.  In fact, the first time she came to our attention was when she did a series of portraits of peonies.  For this exhibit, the artist has created a series of works that link her flowers to times of the day as in “Queens of the Night”, below.  It is a lovely connection between the cosmos and the earth.

Hanansen is a second-generation mosaicist.  Her father, Yakov Hanansen, is highly successful mosaic artist in New York City.  Born in the Soviet Union, Yakov Hanansen has been executing large scale public mosaics for 35 years.  As mentioned above, our 2010 magazine carried a profile story of Hanansen and her father “To Work Without Fear” by Paul Anater.  It really is a fabulous article and you’ll find it here on MAN.

There are more than a dozen works in the Cooperstown exhibit, many of which are for sale and we do hope you will have the opportunity to see this art in person.  We’ll be covering more of Hanansen’s mosaics later this summer when we review the upcoming group exhibit, “Terra Incognita” in July.  In the meantime, please explore more of her art on her website:  www.mosaicsphere.com

Enjoy –  Nancie

Mosaics That Make Us Smile: Lynn Moor

Sometimes, you just need a smile.

When we really needed one the other day, we remembered these delightful mosaics by Lynn Moor of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  Between 2009 and 2010 (and with the appropriate permissions) Moor did a series of mosaics based on original artwork from the Permanent Collection of the Children’s Museum of New York City.

Mosaic fabrication, when it is done well, is much much, more than the simple replication of an artwork done in another medium.  Stephen Miotto, whose studio has collaborated with some of the country’s best artists in producing works for the New York Transit System once told us, ”You can’t copy a work of art (in mosaic).  You have to recreate it to a way that is honest to what the artist wants.”

And that is exactly what Moor has done here.  Take a look at the energy in Red Dude.  You can see that the original artist simply could not get the image down on paper fast enough.  There is a visual sense of urgency in the sweeping, strong black lines and solid self-assurance in that gap-toothed grin. Moor honors this exuberance with hand-carved chunks of smalti set in black, pink thin set for those blood-shot eyes and her own exuberant addition of a gleaming gold tooth.  Her mosaic is just as edgy and energy-filled as the original.

Where’s Pablo? The Mid-Century Mosaics of Picasso

Pablo Picasso – the Cote d’Azur in the 1950s – an enchanting younger lover  – and mosaics.  Historian, educator and artist Lillian Sizemore has put together all the elements of yet another marvelous mosaic mystery – the missing mosaics of Pablo Picasso.  MAN is very excited to publish this intriguing story about how one of the 20th century’s most influential artists explored the mosaic medium.  Enjoy – Nancie

By Lillian Sizemore    May 31, 2012

While reading a 1963 copy of Mosaics: Design, Construction and Assembly by British mosaicist, Robert Williamson, I discovered Pablo Picasso’s mid-century mosaics. Williamson published several pages of these works, some of which are reproduced in this article. Picasso (1881-1973) is renowned for his extraordinary artistic experiments in painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, collage and even stage design; but I’d never heard Picasso’s name associated with mosaics. I’m excited to report he did not leave this stone unturned, collaborating with mosaicist Hjalmar Boyesen, who executed Picasso’s designs.

According to a Dorset (UK) newspaper article, artist Hjalmar Boyesen and Picasso became acquainted when Boyesen served as an American soldier during the liberation of Paris in August, 1944. Picasso’s first major mosaic work in this medium was the 1.5 ft. x 4 ft. plaque shown below. Though the photo is in black and white, Williamson’s accompanying description states, ”it has been done in six shades of grey, one large area of white, and several smaller areas of color.” The inspiration for this design seems to have been taken from a filmstrip or photographer’s contact sheet. The Cannes Film Festival, the many celebrities who visited his Cannes studio, and Picasso’s own cause célèbre were undoubtedly influencing his work.

Cote d’Azur in the 1950s

The decade after the World War II was a very prolific time for Picasso. It was in the Cote d’Azur he began drawing on the Mediterranean sources that had inspired him in earlier years. The warm, sunlit coast and a return to family life renewed Picasso’s inspiration after the devastation of the war years. In the mid-50s, Picasso was living in the villa La Galloise, located in the village of Vallauris outside of Cannes in the south of France. From 1943 to 1953 he lived with painter, Françoise Gilot, (b. 1921 -) with whom he had two children, Claude born in 1947 and Paloma in 1949.  They never married because Picasso’s former wife would not grant a divorce.  Yet by 1953, Gilot had had enough, took the children and left Picasso.  He was angry, as Gilot was his first (and only) partner to leave him. Not to be undone, Picasso had set his eye on yet another young lover…

By the summer of 1957, Picasso began making sketches specifically for mosaics, working closely with Hjalmar Boyesen in the mosaicist’s Cannes studio. Boyesen was a mosaicist with a penchant for abstraction. At the time of this writing, it’s unknown how he came to work with Picasso in southern France. There was a vibrant artistic community in Cannes, and their friendship was already established from Paris. Was it perhaps Boyesen who suggested the medium to Picasso? Did Picasso see Boyesen’s work and decide he wanted to work in the medium as well? Did Picasso invite Boyesen to Cannes?

Picasso’s mosaic panels were executed by Boyesen, assisted by an emerging British sculptor, Ralph Brown, who was on a study sabbatical in Italy that year and came to Cannes to work in Boyesen’s atelier. That summer in Cannes, the young sculptor was making his way around the Italian and Paris art scene, meeting Giacometti and many Italian sculptors of the day. The famous sculptor Henry Moore collected some of Brown’s early works and helped to launch his life long art career. Ralph Brown went on to teach at the Royal College of Art and maintained a life long sculpting career.

Why Mosaic: Ann Gardner

“I use glass mosaic extensively because it infuses color and light into my sculptural work.”

Seattle-based artist Ann Gardner has earned critical acclaim for her sublime, elegant sculptural forms clad in mosaic tesserae that she makes herself.

 

“My glass mosaic catches light in a unique way, adding texture and complexity to a surface – it creates a shimmering skin.”

In this article first published in the 2010 edition of Mosaic Art NOW the magazine, Gardner freely shares her artistic goals and technical processes.

Links to Gardner’s website and additional articles on MAN can be found below.  Enjoy –  Nancie