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| Prem Shashi Digital Art |
| Since 1999 I have spent six months of every year living in India, where I create mandalas (as well as meditating and whirling like a dervish). I also work in the UK as a journalist/sub-editor. |
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| Education: |
| No formal art education (unless a PhD in 20th-century art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art counts). Long before the PhD, I did originally start an art school foundation course but left half way through the year when I realised the kind of work I wished to create had no place at all in current understandings of what passed for ‘fine art’. So I travelled down other paths for many years, not really returning to artistic practice until 1999 when I discovered mandala-making at an ashram in India. |
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| Single Exhibitions: |
New Delhi, India
Ansal Plaza, Osho World Galleria
23 March - 20 April 2007
'Lotuses of the inner garden'
Show of 19 prints on canvas – seven sold
1 October 2008 - 1 February 2009
'The magic of circles'
Show of c.30 prints on canvas and paper and small original mandalas – approx 10 sold as of 1 Dec 2008 |
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| Group Exhibitions: |
Glastonbury, UK
Ashtat Centre
January - March 2007
'Mandalas'
Seven original framed small collage mandalas featuring bindis, a number of framed and mounted giclée prints on paper, as well as unmounted prints on art paper and hand-printed cards |
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| Artist's Statement: |
| The mandalas are hand-drawn and painted, using protractor, compasses, ruler and pencil. There are no preparatory sketches; the design evolves as I draw gradually out from the centre and I have no idea what the finished design will look like until it is done. The same is true of the colouring process. Usually, I am pleasantly surprised, very occasionally unpleasantly surprised, by the results.The fact that the designs are hand-drawn – and thus filled with small irregularities – gives them their secret life. A computer-generated mandala, though clearly a far easier option, would lack this secret magic. The finished paintings are then scanned however, and for the gradient backgrounds, which would be merely tedious to reproduce by hand, I am happy to use Photoshop. I have come to consider these computer-generated backgrounds an integral part of the finished pieces.The mandalas are not merely decorative objects; they are primarily intended to function as meditation aids. Try gazing at any one of them for a short while, allowing the ever-busy mind to become trapped in the tracery of the design. Its circular form and regular symmetry draw the eyes repeatedly from the still point at the centre to the dynamic dance around the edge, and back again, helping to centre the being. This process, this absorption of the mind in a wordless pursuit, brings a feeling of peace, relaxation and inner balance. It is most effective when the mandalas are viewed on a larger scale, although even small images can function in this way. |
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| Buy Prem Shashi digital art at New Art Collectors, the fine art gallery. Find modern paintings, prints, photography & sculpture for sale international artists and designers. |
