AS A strikingly realistic depiction of fishes swimming happily in a pond, made from thousands of tiny ceramic pieces, it has drawn admirers around the world.
But anyone hoping today to see the trompe l'oeil Fishpond Mosaic, installed in 1996 at the corner of Bedford Park and Sydenham Road, will be sorely disappointed.
Nearly half the pieces making the 2m-wide piece of public art have been dislodged or have disappeared – after, its creator says, the council failed to stump up for relatively simple repairs.
Shown a photo on Tuesday of his disintegrating artwork, its maker Gary Drostle, seeing the piece for the first time in years, said: "It is a shame. It did not have to be like that."
The renowned mosaic artist was commissioned by Croydon Council to create the piece in 1996, as part of improvements to the area just east of Wellesley Road in the town centre.
"It was an area where people could sit and eat their sandwiches and stuff and look on the mosaic," he said.
"I had done a some other projects in the borough that had been quite successful."
He spent roughly two months creating the piece in his studio, at the time in Greenwich, before placing it on site.
The work won a Croydon Design Award in 1997 and International Mosaic of the Year in 2002, and remains revered by mosaic artists and designers.
Mr Drostle claims that, more than five years ago, he received a call from the council asking him to repair the piece because it had been damaged by falling scaffolding.
He responded with a quote for roughly £600, but never heard anything back. The piece is now barely recognisable, surrounded by tufts of grass and, on Tuesday, topped by a discarded Pepsi cup.
"It is a common problem with public art: all the money goes to making it and no thought to maintenance," Mr Drostle said.
But, he added, damage of this sort was not inevitable, and would have most likely been started by the puncture.
He said: "They are pretty tough; the ceramic it is made of is incredibly strong.
"People walking on it or even cars driving across it won't (do this).
"But once you have got a hole in the mosaic it allows the water to start getting underneath and things start getting chipped."
The artist's other work includes the landmark 7.5m-high De Luci Mosaic sculpture in Kent and the Roots, Routes, Roots community mosaic under the railway bridge in Portland Road, South Norwood.
Mr Drostle said he would be very happy to remake the fish mosaic, which would probably now cost about £8,500.
The piece marked the first time he had been given no brief other than the size of the work.
"It is still the most popular one that everyone comments on," he added.
