Step into the Cornell Art Museum and you’ll notice something immediately: these mosaics don’t behave like static portraits. They shimmer, shift, and pull you closer. Thirty cultural titans, each fragmented into thousands of glass and stone pieces, each portrait a labor of obsession-level precision. But beneath the dazzling surface is the real hook—the quiet conversation between past technique and modern celebrity.
A Collection of Artistic Masterpieces
This isn’t a vanity display of household names. The Naonis Association curated these 30 mosaics as both a technical challenge and a cultural statement. Elvis, Bowie, Madonna, Frida Kahlo—they’re not rendered flatly; they’re dissected and rebuilt through materials older than the subjects themselves. Each tile captures more than likeness; it catches the contradictions. The gloss of DiCaprio’s Hollywood charm, Winehouse’s shadowed defiance, Basquiat’s sharp edges—all preserved in shards small enough to fit under your thumb.
Icons Across Art, Music, and Sports
It’s tempting to skim past icons you think you know, but pause long enough, and the distinctions snap into focus:
- Musicians: The Madonna mosaic isn’t just another nod to pop royalty. Look at how the artists textured her portrait—not smooth, but layered, reflecting her knack for constant reinvention. Bowie’s portrait uses sharper tesserae angles, mirroring his ever-shifting identities.
- Actors: DiCaprio’s portrait has no Leonardo-in-Titanic softness. It leans into the weight of his career—the environmentalist, the producer, the man who refused to be boxed into early heartthrob roles. Sophia Loren’s piece, on the other hand, radiates old-world glamour, but with edges softened by deliberate spacing in the mosaic design.
- Athletes: Ali’s mosaic doesn’t just flex athleticism. It stares back at you, daring you to look beyond the gloves. His presence here reminds you that sport can be protest, persona, and poetry all at once.
- Visual Artists: Kahlo’s mosaic is a masterclass in control—using fractured materials to reflect an artist known for laying herself bare. Basquiat’s, appropriately, feels more jagged, chaotic, less polished—letting the pieces do what his paintings often did: confront you.
Inside the Mosaic Process
What’s easily missed at first glance is the absolute discipline these mosaics demand. Hand-cut tesserae, often made from Murano glass, don’t come pre-fit. Each piece has to match the mood, the contour, the light reflection. It’s not like painting—mistakes are visible immediately. Look closely and you’ll see how each curve of Kahlo’s eyebrow or Bowie’s jawline is the result of dozens of minute adjustments. There’s a muscle memory in this kind of work—the way a seasoned mosaicist knows which angle will catch ambient light, which material needs to absorb shadow. That expertise hums beneath the surface.
A Curated Dialogue
Marusca Gatto and Guglielmo Zanette didn’t line up these mosaics for easy applause. Every choice feels intentional—icons known for pushing boundaries, not playing it safe. The Naonis Association’s larger mission of breathing life into ancient mosaic traditions reflects in the curation: show how craft evolves when it leans into the present. The exhibit reads like an argument against letting either medium or subject be fossilized.
Tension Between Eras
What’s compelling isn’t just who’s depicted—it’s how these mosaics force you to confront cultural permanence. Each piece blurs the line between iconography and interpretation. Spend long enough with Bowie’s mosaic, and you’ll notice how the sharp color shifts echo his career reinventions. Move to Muhammad Ali’s, and you’re met with something sturdier, more grounded—tiles locked tightly, almost confrontational. They’re not only snapshots of individual legacies; they’re snapshots of shifting societal values.
Immersive Space
The setting plays its part. The Cornell Art Museum’s location inside a restored early 20th-century schoolhouse gives these mosaics a tactile intimacy—no sterile white walls here. You’re drawn close enough to see imperfections, deliberate or not. No glass barriers, no velvet ropes. You walk the same floors as past generations, staring eye-level at hand-placed tesserae depicting faces you’ve known all your life, but maybe haven’t seen this clearly.
Exhibition Details
Open until June 15, 2025, this exhibit sticks to accessible hours across the week. Admission’s free; donations sustain the programming. But the real value here isn’t transactional. This is art that asks for time, not scrolling. The longer you look, the more the craftsmanship, cultural commentary, and legacy behind every tile starts to reveal itself.