"Crystal Princess" - Painting Inspired by Glass Art and Mosaic : Now on View in Crystal Island

"Crystal Princess"
My Art Glass Motif

We can go all the way back to the golden age of Venetian glass when trade secrets were tightly guarded in producing such wonderful masterpieces. The secrets are no longer esoteric today but they will always retain their mystique and fantastic appeal.

The works of Rene Lalique and Tiffany continued the tradition and we have the innovative Art Deco designers to thank for their ingeneuos work with lighting and glass art. This modern technology was certainly a major motif that extended their aesthetic appeal.

Here, I've incorporated the frosted glass and Florentine mosaics in Crystal Princess. I envisioned her as a fantastic crystal goddess figure with ethereal qualities. Some may relate this to Swarovski crystals and jewelry---and it's a valid response---for I enjoy studying the way figures/animals are stylized with fragmentation in jewelry design. As I translated these attributes in this painting, I focused on the ethereal (spiritual) aspect and special quality of light that one gets from looking at a radiant object.

From Art Glass to Liquid Crystal

Florentine mosaics are now a lost art. I was fortunate to set my eyes on the masterpieces by the Montelatici family in the Gilbert Collection, particularly those by Mario Montelatici.

When I first saw the piece, it looked like a super impressionist painting. Super because the colors were crystal clear and extremely intense. Wow! I was sure it was an Aha! moment.

I studied how the jewel tones of the natural marble were so incredibly pieced together quite seamlessly. The color patterns and tonal quality of the figures couldn't be matched by paint. My brother Ben and I went over the different wings of the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and did not find one that could match the clean, semi-transparent jewel tones of the mosaics. I was hooked. I had to find a way to express that quality in my own work.

I started with acrylics, then oils and now pixels!

I have since embarked on developing a style towards this standard. One of the mosaics (titled A Classical Scene) seemed liked a marble mosaic version of an Alma Tadema painting. Two lovers in a mediterranean garden, just sitting on a bench. The man and the woman face each other, lost in love under a tree. A gray dog in the foreground watches them.

I closed in for a better look. There I saw fragmentation of colors and patterns of marble and quartz crysta!. It was more beautiful than any piece of jewelry owned by royalty. This goes beyond design. What a treasure. The pictorial composition and naturalistic illusion was something to behold...for years!

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