Check out this Spectacular Mandala by Graham Stephen of Mandala Vihara!

Mandala – a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism.

Vihara – a Buddhist monastery and place of religious education.

For many years I have been a fan of Graham’s mandala art. Every so often on my art hunts, I’ll find something that is not a full mandala, but mandala-ish, and I think of Graham.

I asked, he agreed and said “Looking forward to seeing your collection of street mandalishes + 1 gowndala.”

Wait until you see this “Gowndala”! 

Mandala-ishes Collection

We chat with Graham as the collection is shown.

Resa – What drew you into making your gorgeous mandalas?

Graham – The intricately beautiful sand mandalas created by Tibetan Buddhist monks have long fascinated me.  After spending days laboriously creating those wonderful designs, with great non-attachment the monks sweep away the sand in an act symbolic of Impermanence.  

Resa – That is of keen interest to me, as the ephemerality of street art is what drives me to it.

Graham – So, about seven years ago when I happened to come across some mandalas online created from digital photographs, the thought arose that that could be a fun thing to try.  The best part turned out to be being able to lose yourself in the creative process. 

Graham – That applying orders of rotational symmetry to various real-life scenes of nature, architecture, and so on, should give rise to such an endless variety of outcomes is also rather satisfying.  And then there is the aspect of pareidolia — it can be fun looking for unexpected forms such as faces created by the new alignments of the rearranged slices of reality.

Graham – Digital mandalas may seem to be more durable than their Tibetan sand counterparts, but at some stage they too will, inevitably, be long forgotten.  At another level, and as with any image on the web, their existence is only fleeting — being reborn each time the page is viewed and then dissolving back into emptiness when the viewer clicks away…

Resa – You pair quotes with your mandalas. Are the quotes you pair with your mandalas inspired by the mandala?  ie: you have the mandala then search for a quote that works, OR do you have a quote and then are inspired to make the mandala to go with it?

Graham – Actually, neither!  This part of the process is surrendered to chance.  When it comes to drafting a post, the mandala just gets paired up with the next unused item from my collection of quotes.  Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they contrast, and at other times there may seem to be no apparent connection — the unpredictability of the random juxtaposition is a bit of fun, with echoes of the “cut-up” technique of Dadaism.

Resa – Oooo, I love that!

Resa – Do you purposely take a photo of something because it will make a fab mandala?

Graham – Rarely.  In practice I tend to review all the shots afterwards when editing a series of photographs and select one or two of any that might be suitable.

I began looking for mandala-ishes everywhere, indoors and outdoors.

I have unfortunately been visiting a friend at the Toronto General Hospital over the last couple of weeks. In the hallway is a Mosaic Mural made from 10,000 tabs, lids, pins, levers, screws and connectors collected over 28 years by nurse Tilda Shalof.

Within the mosaic are several mandala-ishes and information on. the mosaic, which you can see in the slide show above. Below is the entire piece.

Très ish mandala-ish

The above work of art by Gordon Rayner was hanging in a random hallway, in a converted warehouse/factory filled with artsy retailers.

The Most Beautiful Mandala … Ever!

Graham – “as that one had a nice bit of plain background to the left to create a bit of negative space around the result.”

OMG! LOVE THIS!

Thank You Graham!

Visit Graham from MANDALA VIHARA! It’s a beautiful place.