21-year-old artist from Toledo City, Cebu wows with tansan mosaics

A 21-year-old from Toledo City, Cebu is amazing everyone with his mosaic art made from bottle caps.

As seen on Kuya Kim’s “24 Oras” report Tuesday, Rener Cabatas has already created several pieces, including images of Blackpink’s Lisa, BTS member Jin, and Tom Holland.

Rener said it usually takes him hours to finish a piece. It gets tiring, he admitted, but he is determined to get better. He started making tansan mosaic art in 2020.

“Meron po kaming maliit na tindahan. ‘Yon pong mga tansan, kino-collect namin. Yung pinaka mahirap po is yung reference po. It takes one to two days po,” he said.

According to Rener, he makes the reference digitally. He uses it to ensure that the bottle caps are put in the right places for the piece to capture his art’s muse accurately.

Of course, he also took the time to create one for Kuya Kim, who was quite impressed with the output.

“Ang ganda naman niyan, Rener. Kahit na mosaic ‘yan, talagang kuhang-kuha mo yung itsura ko,” he said. “Parang litrato halos. Bilib ako sa’yo.”

According to Kuya Kim, mosaic art is created by putting small fragments such as rocks and tile together. The first of its kind was discovered in Ubaid, Mesopotamia in 3000 BCE.

The biggest mosaic art, meanwhile, was found at Antakya Hotel in Turkey and measures 9,000 square feet. — Franchesca Viernes/BM, GMA News