Inspired by the esoteric Tibetan sand mandala and its physical immutability, a British-born artist used the natural landscape as a canvas and used pebbles of various colors, shapes and tones to create Michelangelo’s David. it draws a portrait of the earthwork of the image and mark Zuckerberg.
Certainly a challenging juxtaposition. But beautiful. And extraordinary.
The artist, 45-year-old Justin Bateman, is now based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and believes that artwork should connect with our natural environment, inspired by Land Art sculptors Andy Goldsworthy and Philip Guston. I’m getting a ration. .. And Bateman set out for the forests, jungles, and beaches of Thailand and Indonesia to create his masterpiece.
“It starts with meditation,” Bateman told The Epoch Times. “Both the right place and the stone must appear. If the subject, part, and stone don’t fit, I won’t do the work. If so, I’ll start by creating a colormap for the subject. . “
The subject of the portrait of Bateman’s pebbles stems from a spontaneously ignited sense of human “curiosity”, not just an unnatural idealism. Like the ephemeral Tibetan mandala, Bateman’s philosophy transcends mundane and mundane problems. “Instead of worrying about finances, world order, etc., I can focus on finding specific shades and tones of sepia,” he jokingly said. “In a sense, it’s a careful practice, but it’s not without its own problems. I just prefer these problems to mundane ones.”
More specifically in the old masterpieces of stone from art history, Bateman is often a “paint”. Besides Michelangelo, he portrays Leonardo’s La Scapigliata, Rembrandt’s self-portrait, Rafael’s angel, and Venus, the birth of Botticelli, who betrays the consciousness of all artistic cultural content.
However, Bateman’s work explores broader perceptions by portraying famous, unknown, living, and long-passed real people. The role of Jesus in Nazareth, and the local Chiang Mai “cowman”. In addition, George Washington, Queen Elizabeth II, and Frida Kahlo will make cameo appearances.
He describes his creative process as follows: I am on a business trip. The result is as invisible to me as the audience watching the process. I started from the test, it makes the eyes. If the eyes don’t work, you need to abandon the work … the work needs to establish a soul.
As pebbles become pixels, “there can be many surprises. Sometimes the stones engage in a very satisfying way, while others force a poorly crafted jigsaw puzzle together. Like the creation of nature, Bateman’s earthwork is fleeting. After spending just three to thirty days creating stunningly detailed portraits, its faces decorate the wallless farming gallery, and passers-by are astonishingly amazed until they are finally returned to Earth.
He admits that Bateman’s “Pebbles are my pixels” portrait, as well as his motto, is nevertheless an outlier placed in a long line of mosaic tradition. “Historically, there have been strict rules regarding mosaic practice,” he said. “Around 200 BC, more random stones were replaced with materials cut into cubes or regular shapes. In mosaic practice, this is called” tesera “. The most common material is marble for durability and a glossy finish when polished. My job is to return to the older customs. It can be said that it is a sculpture equivalent to a cave painting! “
Details of Bateman’s extraordinary stone portrait are as follows:
More details on Justine Bateman’s work can be found on his Instagram pebble picassos.
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