Glass Mosaic - Wall near Netto, Helle Scharling-Todd
The glass mosaic, in the wall close to Netto, was created by the Danish-American artist Helle Scharling-Todd.
Glass mosaic
- Artist: Helle Scharling-Todd
- Erected: 1995
The glass mosaic, in the wall close to Netto, was created by the Danish-American artist Helle Scharling-Todd to mark the opening of Netto’s supermarket in 1995. In Helle Scharling-Todd’s view:
“ Art is like music, it stimulates both our brain and our senses. Bearing this in mind I create my works with a focus on space, shape, colour, lines, rhythm and content. Artists create images, they act as antennas, expressing the feelings and thoughts they pick up from the world around them and expressing them in our everyday reality. I am inspired by the German Bauhaus movement and by early Mexican muralists such as David Alfaro Sigueiros.
References to the Bauhaus style are clearly evident in these 5 works where the influence of constructivism can be seen in both the geometric shapes and the use of the three primary colours red, yellow and blue.
Another similarity is Scharling Todd’s focus on uniting art and architecture in, and with, her work. The Bauhaus, which was one of the most influential art schools of the 20th century, had stated its goal as uniting art, design and architecture to improve the quality of life for “ordinary people”. It was believed that art should be brought into the ‘everyday’ homes and living spaces and thereby not be reserved only for the upper classes of society.
The same ideal is echoed when Scharling-Todd emphasises that for her, ornamentation is the personalisation of architecture. Decoration combines individual expression with a social function. The interplay of art and architecture for her form the outer framework, while with her work she aims at defining important symbols, that have the power of moving all of us. In 1990’s she primarily worked with the following themes: man/nature or technology/nature as a counterpart to the decaying and decadent.
Helle Scharling-Todd
Helle Scharling-Todd was born on Langeland, but now lives in California. A number of her works can be seen on Langeland, for example, in Bagenkop Church. You can read more about Helle Scharling-Todd here.