Saturday 7 March 2009

Mosaic food


The Westfield shopping empire's "flagship", the Centrepoint complex, has been closed for re-development. You can still wander through because it houses the entrance to Sydney Tower. In the food court on the bottom level, I noticed, for the first time, these colourful food tile mosaics decorating pillars and walls. I guess they'll all be gone soon, smashed to smithereens. I love mosaic art, and have sought out classic examples in various parts of the world (Ravenna, Monreale, Istanbul for example), and seeing these in Central Sydney, I thought they deserved documenting before they disappear. It's also amazing what you notice when the crowds have gone and you're not intent on getting a belly-full. When the lunchtime workers and shoppers are milling around, they are merely part of the overall ambience.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for this revelation, Sally. I don't think I ever noticed those mosaics. On seeing only this post's title, I thought "What? Moses and manna?!"
    Did you get some "70% off" bargains before the shops closed?
    Come to Israel to see our mosaics! My most exciting archaeology moment was when we unearthed a big Byzantine mosaic floor in Herzlia.

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  2. Wow, what a magnificent art work, I love the colors.

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  3. Obviously the developers who wish to destroy the mosaics are very prosaic in their thinking. Progress. Bah Humbug!!

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  4. I did not realise that this particular mall had any ambience whatsoever!

    Good capture ...

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  5. these mosaics could be redone into wonderful artwork. The red and white in the Italian mosaics has all types of potential. It is sad to thin they will be smashed but maybe someone will want the mosaics to re-create the artwork. I am glad you liked my farmer's market photos. I like supporting organic producers. They always have great items at the farmer's markets

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  6. They're lovely. What a pity to smash them. Couldn't they be moved?

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  7. Thanks for bringing these to our attention Sally. You know, I've walked past those hundreds, if not thousands, of times and because Centrepoint is such a contemporary building, I've never appreciated those mosaics or taken that much notice of how much work has gone into producing them.

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