Judy Backhouse - "Mandala No.19: Safe"

Mandala No.19: Safe
Acrylic on Canvas, US$ 207

Mandala No.19: Safe

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Details

Acrylic on Canvas
Gallery-wrapped canvas, finished with matt acrylic varnish

W: 750mm x H: 750mm x D: 35mm
W: 30" x H: 30" x D: 1"

Approx. Weight: 0.8kg

This work is unframed

Price

US$ 207

Scale

Reference

M19

About "Mandala No.19: Safe"

Safe is a mandala that I had been mulling over for some months. My first sketches for it were made some six months before the painting. The original idea was to explore using trees in place of the traditional four gates or doors in the mandala. I thought the idea of trees moving through the gates would be interesting.

It was only once I had finished it that the title Safe occurred to me. Those trees just seemed to embrace me in a happy space.In the centre of Safe is the Yin-Yang symbol, the symbol of dual life forces. Feeling safe is not about living in a world that is all good and no bad. It is about being able to embrace that life has aspects of both. We feel safe only when we can embrace this duality.

The centre is embraced by the chocolatey-brown roots of the four trees.

The inner square is a paved area, a human space where nature is tamed and the world is shaped to our human needs. Outside is the grass and beyond the sky. The four corners of Safe represent the four elements Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, acknowledging that our safe human spaces are contained by and depend on the planet. Earth is a safe haven in the wildness of the universe.

Judy Backhouse

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View all 45 works by Judy Backhouse

About Judy

I draw and paint because it gives me joy. I am currently working on a series of portraits. Last year I completed a series of mandalas, exploring an old interest in symmetry. Mandalas are symbols of wholeness and change; as such I find them a particularly good vehicle to explore emotions. A lot of my earlier work was based on dreams.

Price Range

US$ 43-552

Exhibitions

Assemblage Inktober Exhibition, 9th - 11th November 2017, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
The Mandala Series, 8th - 9th December 2016, Norwood, Johannesburg
New Expressions, 11 February - 3 March 2007, The Art Place, Roosevelt Park, Johannesburg

Education

self-taught

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