Opus Pixellatum is like music
You can create many variations of the same mosaic portrait in the same way you can play the same tune in many different ways. Take a song like 1965’s Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. It has been interpreted by many, many bands, (109 known ones, apparently, ) in many different ways. But when you hear any version of it, you will recognize it (Seriously, you should ! If you can’t you must be from a different galaxy).
Because I do not want any problem with copyright infringement, I can’t get you to listen to those here, but you’ll find here access to many of them. This being said, if you look at those pictures below, you’ll understand what I mean by variations…
Now these ones below are very interesting as they are actual mosaics installed in Porto Alegre in Brazil by the local branch of Intervencao Urbana, an Art group that creates – among many other things – many variations of mosaic portraits of Mona Lisa.
The point being, you do not need to think twice, although the designs are very different, you recognize Mona Lisa.
Opus Pixellatum allows you to create the same variations in mosaic portraits. You take one model, and you interpret it in many different ways.
To illustrate this, I am presently building a series of small pieces based on the original Asian face I built in 2015. I originally mounted it on a monolithic slab of lavish gold travertine.
At this time, I have built 4 variations of this portrait in various color palettes
What are your thoughts ?
Please do not hesitate to comment, if you have suggestions for other color combinations, please, please, let me know ! Opus Pixellatum has so many possibilities, I can’t explore them alone, I need help !
This is really experimental work. I’d like to offer classes in 2018 on ways to improvise with Opus Pixellatum and I am researching easy to teach ways to create glamorous color palettes.
These 4 pieces were all built with glass tiles of the same thickness The mosaic portrait themselves were built in a strict Opus Pixellatum protocol, and the border in a slightly different manner.
Next Mosaic Portrait ?
I am presently working on advanced variations of this portrait. They will involve different materials of various thickness including a material I have never used in mosaics before. Therefore I will be building some of them in reverse method. I’ll document and publish this next year but did not want to wait until then to share these first ones with you.
Again, do not hesitate to give me your thoughts and comments or ask questions. I will greatly appreciate your involvement and will send you the model if you’d like to personally experiment with it.
