When it comes to mosaic, many Chinese, especially those born in the 70s and 80s, may immediately call to mind the colorful mosaic tiles of small squares laid over the floors and walls in the kitchen and bathroom.

A familiar yet strange art form for Chinese, mosaic grabs the spotlight at Mosaic China: Mosaic Art Invitation Exhibition, a recently completed exhibition at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum in Beijing.

The exhibit highlights more than 100 mosaics recreated from works by 98 prominent Chinese muralists such as Li Huaji, Liu Bingjiang, and Yuan Yunsheng and eminent artists working in different mediums of painting.

Sponsored by the China Artists Association and organized by its mural art committee, the exhibit "showcases the rich possibilities of various mosaic techniques in art creations and aims to promote the mosaic art in contemporary mural creations in Chinese cities," said Fan Di'an, chairman of the association, who is also a participant of the exhibit.

An over 4,000-year-old craft in Western art history, mosaic was often used for decorating floors and walls in ancient Greece and Rome. Gradually the craft became an art form that flourished during the Byzantine Empire (313-1453). The Byzantine aesthetic favored its sumptuous, glittering effect, which was considered to lend a heightened sense of spirituality to the church murals featuring themes and imagery from Christianity.

The mosaic murals in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Basilica of San Vitale in Italian city Ravenna are widely considered the pinnacle of Byzantine mosaic art.

Unlock the glitter of mosaic

Making a mosaic involves placing together small pieces of various materials such as glass, stone, and shells (tesserae) of different colors onto an adhesive surface. When set together, the tesserae create a paint-like effect in which different colors fuse together, creating shadows and a sense of depth.

The beauty of the art form shines through the mosaic showpieces at the CAFA exhibit, which are originally oil paintings and ink paintings in the main. Made of glass tesserae of a bit transparency and color saturation higher than that of paints, the mosaics shimmer and sparkle as light reflects off the surface.

After being transformed into a mosaic, Fan Di'an's oil painting Sunflowers attracted great attention at the show.

"The flowers look so vibrant with the shimmer of those colored glass tesserae," commented oil painter and muralist Liu Bingjiang, who is known for c0-creating Creation, Harvest, Joy with his wife Zhou Ling for the Beijing Hotel between 1980 and 1982.

The artist's two heavy-color oil paintings have also been invited to participate in the show.

"Like many other oil paintings on show, mosaic tesserae and techniques have definitely given shine to my original work," Liu told China Daily website.

However, the veteran artist frowned on the idea that mosaic can add color to any type of painting. He cited ink painting for example.

"As ink spreads on the rice paper, different shades of black form smoothly. This smoothness of ink's motion can be easily lost as an ink painting is made into a mosaic, which consists of hundreds or even thousands of broken pieces," he argued.

Together with Liu, many seminar attendees such as Sun Tao, deputy director of CAFA's mural painting department, agreed on which media of painting can be properly turned into mosaics still remains an issue to be researched by Chinese art circles.

More glitter in public spaces

The CAFA show, apart from spotlighting the fertile possibilities of mosaic techniques in art creations, looks to further promote mosaic murals in public spaces around Chinses cities.

Unlike in the West where mosaic murals stretch back millennia, mosaic wasn't used in mural creation until in the 1960s. During the 1980s, soon after the reform and opening-up, more ceramic mosaic murals by eminent Chinese artists emerged in Beijing's subway stations as a window of the capital's history and culture.

Among the notable ones was Yuan Yunfu's Chinese Astronomical History, an artwork composed of 3,000 ceramic tiles adorning the platform of Jianguomen station, where the Beijing Ancient Observatory built in the 15th century is adjacent.

Gradually ceramic mosaic tiles fell into disuse in public art creation; instead, they gained huge popularity in China's construction industry during the 80s and 90s.

The past few decades have witnessed China's rapid urbanization; however, many Chinese cities are criticized for looking no different from each other because of a lack of public art reflecting their local history and cultures.

"Murals are a vital part of public art in enhancing a city's character. They can complement the buildings to make them more vibrant, educate the public on a city's culture, and promote important values in society," commented Li Chen, a muralist and professor with CAFA's mural painting department.

Having realized the importance of public art, an increasing number of Chinese cities in recent years have transformed their city walls into shimmering, luminous mosaic murals.

"Aside from their shimmering effect, the colored mosaic glass tesserae, being constantly modified, hardly discolor, and they are resistant to water, exposure and erosion," Li noted, adding that "Hence they are ideal materials for making murals, especially those displayed outdoors."

As Changde, a city in Central China's Hunan province, is turning its nearly 4-kilometer-long anti-flood dyke along the Ruan River into China's largest mural wall, mosaic is the favorite medium among the 100-odd participating muralists.

Among the total 120 murals, about a third of them are mosaics.

A participant of the Changde Mural Wall, Li created two murals. Both are mosaics. One showcases Changde's local opera and the other, inspired by ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi's thoughts, promotes virtue and kindness in society.

In addition to glittering aboveground, more mosaic murals are shining bright underground in Chinese cities, turning subway stations into welcoming, walkable spaces.

For example, joining Beijing's East and West, subway Line Six is a trove of wall mosaics. At the line's east end, Dongxiayuan station, riders can see a wall turned into an azure sky dotted with the locally famous swallow-shaped kites. Muralists Tang Xiaohe and Wang Changxing said that they hoped their visual artwork could bring commuters a sense of leisure in the fast-paced capital.

At the line's west end, mosaics on eight arch walls at the Yangzhuang station feature the Eight Scenic Spots of Beijing. At the Xihuangcun station, riders can be enthralled by a mosaic featuring white deer frolicking under the golden ginkgo trees, a beloved symbol of the city's autumn.

Like Beijing, another ancient Chinese capital Xi'an has also turned its metro stations into underground mosaic galleries to showcase its splendid, inclusive culture during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Other Chinese cities including Nanjing, Chengdu, and Qingdao have also followed suit by adorning their metro systems with mosaic murals.