--- title: Painted Mosaic | Exploring Perception, Memory, & the Geometry of Seeing description: Contemporary mosaic paintings exploring perception, memory, and light through pixelated grids that shift from abstraction to image with distance. image: https://www.PAINTEDMOSAIC.com/images/preview.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://paintedmosaic.com#main-content) [![Painted Mosaic logo](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-paintedmosaic-600.png?width=624&height=191&name=logo-paintedmosaic-600.png) ![Painted Mosaic logo](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-paintedmosaic-600.png?width=624&height=191&name=logo-paintedmosaic-600.png)](https://paintedmosaic.com) - [Home](https://paintedmosaic.com) - [Selected Works](https://paintedmosaic.com/works) - [Statement](https://paintedmosaic.com/statement) - [CV / Exhibitions](https://paintedmosaic.com/cv) - [News](https://paintedmosaic.com/news) - [Contact](https://paintedmosaic.com/contact) #### **When is a square more than a square?** Perception, memory, and time shape the way images are understood. Through a painted mosaic technique composed of thousands of hand-painted, single-color squares, these pieces explore how physical distance and psychological proximity alter how and what the viewer sees. Up close, each painting dissolves into abstraction — a grid of subtle color fields that mirror the fragmented immediacy of the present. As the viewer steps back, the image resolves into recognizable forms, revealing faces and scenes tied to memory, identity, and loss. Influenced by Max Wertheimer’s Gestalt Theory — the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts—these paintings invite viewers to move, reconsider perspective, and discover the clarity that often emerges through distance and time.  For more in-depth analysis, read [The Interplay of Time, Memory, and Perception.](https://paintedmosaic.com/interplay?hsLang=en) ![placeholder](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/@marketplace/Helpful_Hero/CLEAN_Lite/images/gfx/video-placeholder.jpg?width=720&height=400&name=video-placeholder.jpg) ## When is a square not a square? #### Where color, intricate texture, and modern design meet timeless storytelling. Vibrant, pixel-inspired paintings that blend the precision of mosaics with the expressive energy of paint. Each piece transforms everyday scenes, portraits, and cityscapes into striking works of art—capturing both detail and emotion through a grid of color. Whether you’re looking for a statement artwork for your home, a personalized gift, or a custom commission that reflects your unique story, **Painted Mosaic** brings your vision to life. From intimate portraits to large-scale urban landscapes, every piece is hand-crafted to celebrate beauty, identity, and place. Let’s turn your ideas into a painted mosaic that’s yours alone—rich with meaning, texture, and style. #### **Perception Constructs Reality** I create mosaic-based paintings that treat memory like a built environment, where identity forms through layering, fragmentation, and change over time. From this process, each composition is built with discrete visual units that resist immediate coherence, requiring distance and duration for the image to resolve. The work positions seeing as an active process, one that assembles meaning from fragmentation. For a more in-depth analysis, read [Interplay of Time, Memory, and Perception.](https://paintedmosaic.com/interplay?hsLang=en) ![Gotham-animated](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/Gotham-animated.gif) ### Best in Show at Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art Roy Cacek’s *Shifting Ego* has been awarded **Best in Show** at the 10th Annual National Juried Exhibition (ANJE) held at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art. Part of Cacek’s *Fragmented Echoes* series, the painting explores identity, memory, and the shifting nature of perception through his distinctive painted mosaic technique. Cacek extends his appreciation to juror **Philip Salamone** and the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art staff for this recognition and for their thoughtful support of the participating artists. [READ MORE \>\>](https://paintedmosaic.com/news?hsLang=en) ![Shifting Ego](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/cacek-02-shifting-ego-acrylic-48x32-2026.jpg) ### Best in Show Award Roy Cacek's painting *Multiplicity of Self* received **Best in Show** at the **79th Annual Gilpin Arts Juried Exhibition** in Central City, Colorado. The award recognizes Cacek's ongoing investigation of Jungian psychology related to the collective unconscious, perception, and the multiplicity of identity through a distinctive mosaic-based approach to contemporary painting. The honor adds to a growing record of juried exhibitions and institutional recognition across North America. ![Multiplicity of Self](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/cacek-multiplicity-of-self.jpg) # Other series of paintings [![Shujaa](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/Shujaa.jpg)](https://paintedmosaic.com/archetypes?hsLang=en) [![Homage to Claude](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/claude-1.jpg)](https://paintedmosaic.com/echoes?hsLang=en) [![Artificial Brilliance](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/lightpollution.jpg)](https://paintedmosaic.com/geometry?hsLang=en) - ![Shujaa](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Shujaa.jpg?width=2700&height=2700&name=Shujaa.jpg) Faces of War - ![sunset](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/sunset.jpg?width=650&height=437&name=sunset.jpg) Landscape - ![northbound traffic](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/northbound.jpg?width=2700&height=1361&name=northbound.jpg) Urban Scenes - ![sp55](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/sp55.jpg?width=500&height=500&name=sp55.jpg) Portraiture ### Landscapes In my mosaic landscapes, nature and place are reimagined through a grid of color and light. From shimmering riverfronts to sweeping skylines, each scene is built from small, single-hue squares that shift between abstraction and clarity. Up close, the surface hums with texture—like fragments of memory scattered across time. Step back, and the image resolves into a vivid panorama that captures both the permanence and fleeting beauty of a moment in place. These works invite viewers to see familiar scenes anew, as if glimpsed through the lens of memory and emotion.p\> [![View More](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/243430822/interactive-233310165724.png)](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLLMmvycLBMk9BYEm02IxdP5R8BcKwM7WAk6LPbmdbrnp%2Bx%2BNK8Bdg6Bn1dnmXWmMG5oLlOh%2FSeG%2F42vRZkfBqVyM%2FGGaW%2FGdYcrKMB2pjirkNU4JHV22GHbmBGaHjUfXKzmm%2BHkwuGzbENTocCqQGKvF3t9%2BTa7ZwF60NMsb5DJPtbxlGk25snPcrtIaQayE%2F0QkEhz&webInteractiveContentId=233310165724&portalId=243430822&hsLang=en) ![Homage to Claude](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/claude.jpg) ### Urban Scenes My mosaic paintings of urban life capture the rhythm, color, and layered energy of the city. Using a grid of single-color squares, I transform familiar streets, skylines, and architectural landmarks into shifting mosaics that blur the line between realism and abstraction. Up close, they are fragments of color and texture—chaotic, alive, and unresolved, like the city in motion. From a distance, the pieces resolve into dynamic scenes that reveal the city’s structure, character, and light. Each painting invites the viewer to pause within the rush, to see beauty in the fleeting moments and overlooked corners of urban life. [![View More](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/243430822/interactive-233310165724.png)](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLLMmvycLBMk9BYEm02IxdP5R8BcKwM7WAk6LPbmdbrnp%2Bx%2BNK8Bdg6Bn1dnmXWmMG5oLlOh%2FSeG%2F42vRZkfBqVyM%2FGGaW%2FGdYcrKMB2pjirkNU4JHV22GHbmBGaHjUfXKzmm%2BHkwuGzbENTocCqQGKvF3t9%2BTa7ZwF60NMsb5DJPtbxlGk25snPcrtIaQayE%2F0QkEhz&webInteractiveContentId=233310165724&portalId=243430822&hsLang=en) ![lightpollution](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/lightpollution.jpg) ### Portraiture My mosaic portraits explore the complexity of identity through color, texture, and shifting perspective. Built from hundreds of single-hue squares, each work moves between abstraction and clarity—mirroring how we see ourselves and others over time. Up close, the surface is a tapestry of fragmented tones; step back, and a face emerges, alive with expression and story. Whether depicting loved ones, historical figures, or everyday people, these portraits honor resilience, vulnerability, and the quiet power of human connection. Each is not just a likeness, but a visual record of experience, inviting viewers to find meaning in every line, shadow, and hue. [![View More](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/243430822/interactive-233310165724.png)](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLLMmvycLBMk9BYEm02IxdP5R8BcKwM7WAk6LPbmdbrnp%2Bx%2BNK8Bdg6Bn1dnmXWmMG5oLlOh%2FSeG%2F42vRZkfBqVyM%2FGGaW%2FGdYcrKMB2pjirkNU4JHV22GHbmBGaHjUfXKzmm%2BHkwuGzbENTocCqQGKvF3t9%2BTa7ZwF60NMsb5DJPtbxlGk25snPcrtIaQayE%2F0QkEhz&webInteractiveContentId=233310165724&portalId=243430822&hsLang=en) ![sp55](https://paintedmosaic.com/hubfs/sp55.jpg) ![painted-mosaic](https://paintedmosaic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/painted-mosaic.png?width=1000&height=500&name=painted-mosaic.png "painted-mosaic") ## Painted Mosaic Website coming soon... 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