John D'Aponte

Mosaic is one of the oldest, most durable, and widespread methods of creating two-dimensional images, with the earliest dating to about the 4th century BCE.  By using tiny pieces of colored stone or glass called tesserae, people all over the Mediterranean, the middle east, Europe and North Africa were able to convey information that lasts to this day.

Mosaics are paradoxically closely linked with the way you’re perceiving this site right now, and all digital information for that matter, in the newest, most widespread, but least durable method that the world has ever seen. By using tiny bits of colored light called pixels, people all over the world are able to convey information to each other immediately, yet fleetingly. Each one of the average 786,432 pixels on our screens is a little, teeny, fleeting tessera.

To clearly illustrate this dichotomy, BRDG created a series of ten mosaics based on the favicons from 10 of America’s favorite websites. You know those tiny logos to the left of the address bar on your browser window? They’re called favicons. They are either 16 or 32 pixels square. Replicated in 1” x 1” ceramic tiles, they are 1-to-1 ratio reproductions from pixel to tile.

Posted in: -all- 2-D object