Mosaic Art Murals Across the Ages and Other Musings
What is art?
It’s an interesting question to consider.
The term “art” doesn’t have to be limited to mean a beautiful painting hanging on a wall in a museum.
Art isn’t only located in parlors and the private libraries inside lavish homes.
It can also be found on the streets and there are some forms of art that are under appreciated or even go unnoticed altogether.
When I was a small child, I used to draw crude pictures of my favorite video game characters.
None of my scribbles were particularly great.
Mario looked like his face got ran over by steamroller and my rendition of Sonic the Hedgehog looked like something out of a horrible fever dream.
So I may not have exactly been Rembrandt back in those days, but that didn’t stop me from demanding that my parents put those pictures up on the refrigerator where they would be seen.
I was determined to ensure that every guest at our house would experience the agony of looking at my deformed Nintendo characters.
Although I was a lousy artist back then, it wouldn’t have been fun to stick my “artwork” in a drawer where they would go unnoticed.
I wanted my efforts to be seen!
And that’s the whole point.
Art is meant to be seen by other people.
In my opinion, a good piece of art is something that makes a statement, attracts attention, and leaves a lasting emotional impression.
It is one of the important things people do to express their thoughts and emotions.
I’m a tile guy now and my ability to both create and appreciate something beautiful is leaps and bounds better since those early days of trying to draw the Super Mario Bros.
I’d like to think that a nicely done tile pattern can be a work of art in a certain sense.
However, I also think that a typical tile wall or bathroom floor doesn’t really go far enough to create a truly lasting emotional response within most people.
This is where mosaic art and mosaic murals come in.
Mosaic murals have been around for a very long time.
The first ones were found in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium B.C.
Murals and mosaic wall art go above and beyond what regular tile patterns can do.
The pictures are much more intricate and colorful.
A well done piece of mosaic art can grab attention and make bold statements.
It is displayed in a place where people will notice it and may stop to ponder how it makes them feel.
Mosaic art can tell stories, commemorate special events, and can even be used as propaganda.
Just like with every other art form, topics can range from deeply personal and intimate matters to the socio-economic stances of a community or the whole world in general.
Street artists, professionals, and even governments all used this art form to get their message across.
Artists such as Chuck Close, Jean Shin, Sarah Sze, and Vik Muniz have embellished the four stations of New York’s Second Avenue Subway.
This may perhaps be one of the more famous examples of “legal” mosaic street art, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some amazing artists creating masterpieces without the approval of an official governing body.
An example of one such well-known street mosaicists is an artist known as Invader.
Like me, he grew up a fan of video games and got his name from the famous arcade video game Space Invaders.
Invader’s style of mosaic making is known as an example of decorative street art.
He creates pixelated images by using ceramic tiles, which gives them a sort of retro, computerized look.
I especially like his depiction of 8-bit Megaman on the side of a building!
But while Invader’s art is more of an expression of geek fandom, there are other street artists that use their skills to express a political point of view.
One such example is Carrie Reichardt, who is a very well-known mosaicist in the world of activism.
She is the founder of a “Craftivism” movement and is known for large-scale public mosaic masterpieces that have a rebellious vibe to them.
Her work often criticizes current political issues and have come to be recognized as symbols of modern activism.
However, not all political art is subversive and done to undermine the status quo.
As I mentioned earlier, many governments have used mosaic art as propaganda.
I have a friend from Ukraine who has shown me some old photos of mosaic murals in his hometown of Kyiv.
For example, Paramohnmy Avenue in Kyiv has buildings with mosaic artworks that were created between 1960’s and 1980’s decorating their facades.
But it’s not just random streets where such decorations can be found.
The main intention of government propaganda is to influence the citizens of the nation to have a certain viewpoint.
For instance, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and was engaged in the space race with the United States, it was important for the communist government to make its citizens feel like their side was going to win.
And so a bright mosaic artwork from 1980 was commissioned to decorate the front wall of an administrative building of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant in Yuzhnoukrainsk.
Truth be told, this piece of mosaic wall art is beautiful regardless of what the underlying message it has.
The days of the communist-era space race may be over now, but the art is still a sight to behold.
In 1968, an artist by the name of Vartan Arakelov created the “Space Conquerors” mosaic art in Lysychansk, Ukraine.
Much like the nuclear power plant in Yuzhnoukrainsk, this mosaic art celebrates the U.S.S.R.’s space exploration by commemorating Yuri Gagarin’s journey into outer space in 1961.
Mosaic art can be relatively expensive and time consuming to make.
So the fact that the Soviet government would commission such pieces to be made shows just how much of an impact mosaic art can have.
There are many more artists and examples of mosaic art that I could talk about, but I think I will end things here.
It is a truly vibrant and exciting form of expression that goes beyond what one may typically see in a museum gallery.
I think it is important to take a moment every now and again to stop and appreciate the beauty that is mosaic art.
And if you would like a custom mosaic mural of your very own, don’t hesitate to contact us!
We will be happy to help you with all of your tile and mosaic needs!