Demonstrating the versatility and expression that mosaic affords, US-based artist Benjamin Lowder takes reclaimed wood and metal and transforms them into unique mosaic artworks. Making use of the colour, shapes, and wear from metal signage, Lowder creates intricate patterns, beautifully combined with cut wood.

The most common shape throughout his artworks is the triangle, chosen and placed specifically to demonstrate “the proportions and patterns of natural growth structures”. With each piece, a curious kaleidoscopic vision is created, breaking up the natural grain of wood and the words or imagery of signage to produce something familiar but removed and entirely reconstructed.

Lowder’s current series, titled “Myth, Math & Magic”, is made up of both 2D and 3D creations, making use of reclaimed wood and vintage signs. Taking care to deconstruct the message of advertising in order to “break the magic spell” and instead transform them into a thing of geometric beauty. Crafting reimagined mystical artifacts from these items produces a curious dichotomous relationship between nostalgia for the recent, but unsustainable, past and unwavering hope for a bright future supported by ancient widsom.

The transformation of these vintage items into mystical totems and artifacts not only results in oddly familiar visions, but seeks to encourage reflection on past behaviours in an effort to “move us back to ‘the garden'”.

Benjamin Lowder

A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, January 2021.