Making Mosaics In Iloilo
August 22nd, 2008. Published under green concerns. 5 Comments.
Nice, huh? What you think? It’s a bit too photographic-looking and not stylized enough like the Byzantine mosaics I admire, but I like it nevertheless.
This one was done by an Ilonggo artist, RJ Juarez. He lives in Barotac Nuevo and finished a business course at UP Visayas. He does this type of work for a living and promotes it out of a small store space at the upperground floor of SM City Iloilo. (I wonder how he’s coping after Typhoon Frank flooded the shopping center?)
The huge mosaic above is the image of St. Anthony de Padua, patron saint of the Barotac Nuevo parish church. It was donated by the artist to his hometown. Pretty generous of him! What makes this and all his other works noteworthy is that he sources his materials from trash and construction scraps. That must be very time-consuming and difficult. Smelly. Dirty. If you’re just rummaging through garbage bags for the materials you need, how can you be sure you’ll have enough for your work? My hat goes off to him! He is living the green ideal. I hope he keeps it up.
5 Comments
chiqui on August 22nd, 2008
this is really close to my heart. this mosaic is beside St. Paul School, where I had my elementary. And the artist is from UPV, where I spent my college years.
Dondi Tiples on August 23rd, 2008
Wow! I looked at this guy’s site. His is the kind of art I would love to have in my home. Prices seem reasonable too. I hope he accepts credit cards. Hrhrhrhrhr!
Seriously, the mosaics look very solid. Even the process of assembling and creating them: cutting, cementing, grouting, polishing, mold-proofing, sealing – make them look very durable.
Easy to maintain too, unlike oil paintings. Mosaic art, you just trapo and go.
rj on August 23rd, 2008
hmmm..
if you could visit the church, just drop me an email. i might be available. from near view you could hardly recognize it because each tessarae is roughly in 2inch squares.
most tourist view this as an abstract art of unclear forms (in plain sight) just to be amazed by the photo they took when they get home.
chiq on August 26th, 2008
Well, what’s stopping you from buying? I’d like one, too, if I had a house and a garden. It would look nice in a garden with a small fountain.
jugene on August 22nd, 2008
still the art patron, i see.