Toby Mason, A Life of Colored Mirror

Self Portrait in Blue 1974 When you first see it, it looks like the picture of a hippie and you'd be right. The design came from a black and white print the product of a coin operated photo booth at the end of London's Piccadilly Line. Crack of dawn after having played two different gigs, Randy and I are sitting with our guitars waiting for the first train to pull into the station and I decide to let the machine have at me. It wasn't kind, but I knew it would work to help me make a mosaic self portrait using three different shades of blue mirror.

That's what you're looking at, a mosaic made of highly reflective colored glass, so allow me to guide your eye. Remember your looking at a reflection intrinsically incorporated into the image. Don't look at me. Look at the patterns in the shadows. You can just see the edge of the window that illuminates the room and above and just to the left, the edge of another mosaic hanging vertically against the wall. Can you see the the brass lamp and white shade reflected twice, low in the middle? How about me holding the camera on the left side? Because when you can gather in the room, you'll be floating and it's never the same again.