… slowly I weave.

Another work in glass. This time, it’s tiny beads. Intricate work like this provides time to “be with” the image and reflect upon photography and imagery in general. Each bead, a critical component of the process, seemingly insignificant alone but critical to the goal. 

LESS than skin-deep! 

Firstly, this is the result of using poorly-trained and inexperienced tilesetters. It is also a bad interior design and/or engineering decision as this is an elevator and elevators constantly move and vibrate. What’s more, the pretty porcelain surface is nothing more than a printed surface, susceptible to wear and tear. 

Compare and contrast with Bit-by-Bit tileworks, where we are highly trained with correct techniques to ensure tiles are fully supported by mortar so they are far less likely to crack under pressure, and we use traditional time-tested materials with color throughout, not just on the top. Choose wisely, choose quality over trendy!

Pictured Above: Dollar store ceramic coasters bearing schmaltzy cliché imagery.

This is something I do not produce, for a few reasons (other than those already strongly implied):

1. Someone else does it … cheaply and in large quantities.

2. The colorants are of an unknown source, quality, permanency, and lightfastness.

3. They likely contain a receptive coating which would eventually rub off with use. I have even seen expensive commercial porcelain tiles used in a high traffic area (an elevator floor) which have been printed with pigments made to look like marble which were worn away near the door. They were also cracked, showing a lack of experience by the tilesetter. Avoid faux photo-finishes and avoid unskilled labor.

4. Instead of photos-on-tile, I make photomosaics … compositions built from thousands of tiny tiles. That is, a picture made OF tile … not a tile with a picture ON a tile. There is no heat transfer, there is no treated surface. The color is solid, with nothing to wear off except maybe, eventually but not necessarily, a bit of grout which is easily fixed. And my work is washable!

Now, if you wanted to take a photo of wine and grapes, I can make that into a mosaic. I can also turn grapes into wine, but that’s a totally different story. I’d rather use an original family snapshot or ditigal file and turn it into a custom heirloom photomosaic for you.

No photographs are harmed in the process.

Sigh. There is a reason multi-color bits are sometimes a bargain … “separation anxiety”! 

The grid has reigned supreme since the dawn of industrialization (with the notable exception of Art Nouveau), and now the “pixelated” micro-grid is everywhere. Bit-by-Bit encourages this, recognizing it as temporary relief from our hyper-realistic photo-crazed society. This brings to mind the ancient tradition against icons in some religions. Geometric and highly decorated architecture of Islam is perhaps the best known example. Though, in the U.S., abstraction has never been based upon forbidden imagery, and yet we can share the pleasure of a moment without images … in a very contemporary way. 

At the same time I enhance modern photo-imagery, degraded old ones have an eternal appeal. There may be a future peoject in there somewhere.

Our fascination with guided painting and coloring has been updated from the 1970’s paint-by-number kits, stylized and semi-fractalized. 

It’s everywhere. The assemblage urge to create a collection of dissimilar but unified bits.

MWUAHAHAHA!!! Slicing and dicing an oddly discarded fleece blanket bearing a gigantic photo of a couple holding a dogs. Judging from the lapel flowers, it was a wedding. Okay, it is sad when you think about that possibility but their parts will live on in the form of some fuzzy fiber franken-flowers. Say that fast ten times!

Title card narratives for an upcoming show shall be handwritten and here I am puzzling the words together. Then it occurs to me … some younger people may not be able read it because cursive is no longer taught in some (many?) schools. Does this mean they also will not be able to decipher the Constitution or innumerable documents pertinent to their own family history?!

It’s not stealing if offered for free, but since I intend to collect them all, it feels like stealing. This is only half. I’ll got back for the rest soon. To heck with Pantone’s super expensive chip books! Yay!

When is labeling people a good thing? When I pass these out at Theatre Bizarre in a couple weeks! Screenprinted with handwritten food-oriented names. Call me anything but “Late for Dinner”!