From a Window
Smalti glass and Italian marble, Opus musivum, 'Hexlite panel'
Paul Zanotti, From a Window, ( 2007 ) Private collection Ventura Ca
Why isn't it flat, why isn't it grouted?
With the 6th century Byzantine innovation of adapting what was hitherto a decorative floor art ( Opus tesselatum ) for the adorning of vertical planes (Opus musivum ), mosaic was liberated from the restrictions of two dimensions and began its evolution as a truly complete pictorial discipline. Mosaic no longer had to be flat,its architectural fuction had been transformed and its status as fine art confirmed. Mosaic glass technology was perfected and a myriad of chromatic possibilities stimulated the artistic imagination.
Realism which had been a feature of Greek and Roman mosaic was replaced with iconographic representation and stylisations, but at the heart of this new visual grammar was the approach to surface texture which through skilful placing of the mosaic tesserae commanded light and the gaze of the onlooker as never before.
It's because our mosaic tesserae are not flat and are never placed in regular close sequence like tiles, that a uniquely expressive interaction with light and shadow is made possible. For this reason we do not grout our mural mosaics. To do so would rob them of their most precious and mysterious characteristics.
The three-dimensional quality of Byzantine mosaic art is an unparalleled technical achievement. It is deserving of continued artistic development in the contemporary architectural and artistic fields.
Realism which had been a feature of Greek and Roman mosaic was replaced with iconographic representation and stylisations, but at the heart of this new visual grammar was the approach to surface texture which through skilful placing of the mosaic tesserae commanded light and the gaze of the onlooker as never before.
It's because our mosaic tesserae are not flat and are never placed in regular close sequence like tiles, that a uniquely expressive interaction with light and shadow is made possible. For this reason we do not grout our mural mosaics. To do so would rob them of their most precious and mysterious characteristics.
The three-dimensional quality of Byzantine mosaic art is an unparalleled technical achievement. It is deserving of continued artistic development in the contemporary architectural and artistic fields.
Copyright 2008-2010 Paul Zanotti.