410. This artist uses tiny sea shells to create realistic portraits

Making portraits using various brown/black shades of burnt toast is hohum to Richard Moore. He uses the tiny trapdoor shells inside sea molluscs. Check his art >

Richard Moore was featured on NZTV as an interesting local artist.

He walks the beach at Maungawhai searching for and collecting hundreds of dead whelk shells washed up on the sand.

He knows that inside each little mollusc is a single hard flat shell which acts as a trapdoor to block crabs and unwanted sand from entering the delicate interior of the whelk.

Each ‘pixel’ is actually a shell

Richard collects and grades these shells according to their size and colour: from black through to light gray.

Then he creates his portraits

So far he has focussed on recreating famous film stars.

Do you see a shell or Elizabeth or Elvis?

Each portrait used only shells

So far they adorn only his own walls. But one day you might see his art at Te Papa or Sotheby’s.

Substack Report #410.

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