The mandala collages are important to me, since they articulated a deep need I had felt to structure a set of complex – but orderly – spaces. In each mandala, twelve sections repeated themselves. There was a unique orderly system applied to each of them, as small intricate pieces were cut out of collage materials and repurposed as painterly marks. Colors and patterns combined with each other. Careful repetition brought order to the larger whole. Paper fragments coalescing into elegant compositions became metaphors for humanity’s many individuals coming together as one. Some collages incorporated multiple colors and patterns, holding various formal elements in a tense and seemingly fleeting moment of unity. Others were built on shared formal principals, as varied hues, tones, tints, and shades of blue worked together, or as multiple chromatic grays interacted on the page.
Most of the mandalas were about twelve inches in diameter. Some areas were blurry, while others had more crisp patterns. Each was constructed out of 108 cut out pieces. As a result, each composition was characterized by a high level of implied texture from the appropriated imagery, along with varying amounts of physical texture from the gluing and layering of the paper pieces. Some highly textured patterns felt very busy, as if time were racing by, while other soft-focus areas suggested the idea of time passing more slowly. Time and space operated in different ways across the small collages.
Paper Collage 12'' by 12''