:: Outside Inside
While hunting down a completely unrelated topic, google.com managed to dish me up a gem:
Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden and Florence.
What is it about mosaic that is so appealing? Certainly in part it is that it evokes the ancient past. Who hasn't seen the wonderful floors that survived Pompeii and that graced fine buildings throughout the ancient Roman Empire? There too is a bit of the whimsical collector of found objects in a mosaic, something few of us can completely deny isn't in us. Tossing out a loved and familiar piece of glazed stoneware because it is cracked and unmatched is at times difficult, even if necessary. Why not throw them against a wall and use the shards in some fanciful way, adding to it mirrored pieces and other found objects? The randomness of the bits, and how the final work of art comes together, is also part of the fun.
The webmaster artist of
thejoyofshards.co.uk took his inspiration from a program exploring Art Brut, "outsider art..works produced outside mainstream art, typically by untrained, self-taught individuals, who are driven by creative urges that have no reference to the art world." In that exploration, however, he found out that
outsider art wasn't about outsiders at all. It was about something that was inside everyone if only they'd look for it.
image from the joy of shards
