The path that leads to the creation of an artistic mosaic work is certainly long. Not only because it takes a long time to create the mosaic itself, rather because the steps from an idea to set down the tiles are not so predictable.
There is a painful part, where I fix on paper with quick sketches a concept, a story, an impression that I want to tell.
From here I begin to produce an increasingly detailed sketch and, already in this phase, there is a first selection: “Is it really worth continuing this path?”, “And if it were so?”, “Ok, so we are … However…”. The thousand doubts lead to the drawing of the final sketch.
The sketch is actually still a preliminary phase. Now the decisive step takes place: we need to answer the fateful question “How will it be in mosaic?”. The beauty is that the answer is always the same “I don’t know!”. In fact, you can think and create the most beautiful mosaic in the world, but if it is then placed in the wrong context, it doesn’t work (but maybe I’ll speak better elsewhere).
Thus we begin to talk about interpretation, and here things get serious. Yes, because we begin to think about the dimensions that the work must have, according to the size of the tiles, which are a function of the level of detail of the details that I want to create.
I begin to think about andamenti and how to reproduce the colors area. What kind of colors to use: if venetian smalti, gold, marbles, stones, bricks… everything that my handle can cut. In short: the word “interpretation” hides a world of choices. Often I take them very easily, but other times it is a pain.
I made this sketch in 2015. So I have been looking at it for 5 years, sometimes more carefully, sometimes casually (it certainly happens more often). And I still can’t make decisions on all the aspects I mentioned before. The simplest thing would be give it a try. In these cases yous should work on a sample in order to verify firsthand how the final realization could be. However, my works have a certain immediacy: they need small errors and small second thoughts. It is those improvisations on the theme that give them my sense of belonging. But I need a vision, however unclear, and at this moment I don’t have it for this work. Maybe it’s just not the right time to face it yet, but I’m sure it will come and it will be beautiful.
