Mosaics have been a part of our history for 4000 years, and in European art they have been used for centuries to represent religious icons. In the 21st century however, British artist David Arnott is using them to celebrate a different kind of cult – that of celebrity, referencing subjects from the Rolling Stones lips logo to Her Majesty the Queen. His breath taking portraits are beautifully and meticulously constructed from thousands of mosaic fragments, each one hand cut, and some no bigger than a millimetre long. In his skilled and careful hands, this ancient artisan technique becomes a way of showing us some of the most familiar faces of our time in a completely new way, fragmented, luminous and yet dazzlingly authentic.

David devotes many hours of preparation to each composition, using photographs and sketches to perfect the detail he will require before he begins each project. When it is planned in meticulous detail, he sets about choosing and then hand cutting the pieces of mosaic for each elaborately conceived and fastidiously executed portrait.

Biography and work by David Arnott