 Albanian artist Saimir Strati's creation was the result of much heavy drinking. Pic: Arben Celi
September 5, 2008 8:44 AM
by Benet Koleka
TIRANA - An Albanian artist has set a record by creating the largest mosaic made of corks, arranged as a homage to life around the Mediterranean.
Albanian artist Saimir Strati glued 229,764 corks of various shapes and colors over a plastic banner measuring 12.94m by 7.1m to show Romeo with a crown of grapes playing the guitar while dancing with the sea and the sun.
He worked 14 hours of work a day for 28 days and completed his project yesterday.
"It gives me a personal pleasure to declare that Mr Saimir Strati has set today the new Guinness world record for the largest cork mosaic," Guinness adjudicator Carlos Martinez said.
Albanians have been following Strati's third world record attempt much more closely than his previous two record-breaking pieces of art, a portrait with nails of Leonardo Da Vinci and a galloping horse made with toothpicks.
"I love mosaics, they are a dying genre. I follow the same
technique used 3000 years ago," said Strati. "A mosaic requires you to work for a long time and keep the emotion alive."
"I also wanted to appeal to Mediterranean countries not to create mosaics based on computer pixels, but as our forefathers did. The Mediterranean is the home of the mosaic."
His 25-year-old mosaic collection features one created with fragments of egg shells and a portrait of Elvis Presley, made with compact discs.
The artist did his latest work in a local hotel, where he
told visitors: "Drink, because I need the corks."
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