Mandalasm


Another early painting, in around the year of 2002. I was realising at this moment in time, I wasn’t really an aspiring artist at all, but felt the urge to communicate ideas, whether that be to myself or to anybody who was interested. My endevours in painting and drawing were largely a private affair, although I wanted to develop a skill to improve a communication in form to what I wanted to express in ‘physical reality’. I was thinking that the images I wanted to reproduce from my mind’s eye, were in fact, essentially ‘mirrors’ to my own ‘self’. On the surface, this may seem quite self-indulgent, but there were deeper meanings to all of this seeming tomfoolery.

Alongside the ideas of Freud and Jung, I was reading and researching a fair amount into the realms of Shamanism. I was also dipping my toe into the realms of Hinduism and finding parallels between modern psychology, Shamanism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Western religious traditions, which also included pagan traditions.

Although, a relatively simple concept, ‘Mandalasm’ was created with the idea of a mandala, from both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The ‘abstract’ design, or symbol which separates the two faces in Mandalasm, is my own spontaneous representation of a mandala, which according to Jung, represents the ‘state’ of one’s own ‘inner’ psyche. The psyche strives for balance and the ego, which most of us can only identify with at a conscious level, is only a fraction of a part which contributes towards the psyche’s striving for balance, although the ego must recognise all parts to become balanced, which for the ego, is like searching to look at the back of one’s head without a mirror.

The two face entities in this painting represent ‘guardian angels’, who, although are two separate entities, are one entity, who are one, but separate at a frequency. The entity or entities are female and represent a nurturing and caring quality, but also possess a darker side, which includes a freedom to explore, whether to one’s peril or growth.

I personally, experienced these female entities, in my mind’s eye on several occasions in my youth while learning certain activities and they came into my mind’s eye at an intensity before making a choice for learning which would disturb my psyche and put it out of balance for a long time to come, which would force me into a position to face my fears and demons, when I may not have been ready at that stage in my life, although when is an individual ready? At this moment in time, an interest in Shamanism shed more light, on a universal dilemma. An archetype of a paradoxical nature which consisted of exploration and wonder, but also of warning and trepidation.