Mandarin Knots Make the World Go Round

Size:

Normal: 27.7" Diameter, 38" square canvas

Large: 48.8″ Diameter, 58" square canvas

Medium: Hand Touched Pigment Print
Date: 2016
Edition Size: 250 / 10
Hand Touched: Canvas

This statement canvas print takes a new twist on a European tradition that dates back to ancient Rome, the depiction of the Bacchanalia. The Bacchanal in art displays a small group of celebrating revelers usually in a landscape setting.

In this image, the deconstructed bacchanal is taken from a drawing dating back to the 18th century. The characters in jovial and carefree spirits are on a worldwide voyage. The cast of characters include: The villagers representing the people of the world; a couple embracing; friends that play mock a chariot using a wheelbarrow; and youth playing instruments nestled near trees. At the top of the image, the trees that engulf the globe reminds us, “C'est la vie” (that’s life ) for everything their is a season. Down the center of the piece, see the mandarin knots occupying the middle of the globe. They are the only things that seem calm and balanced. Their symbolic position carries the virtue and values of equanimity, undisturbed by exposure to emotions that may cause lose of balance and mindfulness.

You may be ruled by passions, desires, likes and dislikes from the bacchanal but imagine, you could get your inner stability from the knots, “when you stand in the middle” of the globe.