
The Rose Mirror Mandala (of three reflections for HHDL)”
in “The Temptation of AA Bronson”,
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
For me the Rose Mandalas evocatively created by Chrysanne Stathacos symbolise the gradual unfolding of our innate spiritual potential. Conversely these mandalas remind us of the inherent impermanence of even the beautiful.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
The Rose Mandala installations are based on historical circular structures with the intention of creating a temporal work which changes over time. These works are created by plucking dozens of roses apart petal by petal circling coloured mirrors range from 10 feet to 60 feet wide. The viewers senses are touched by waves of rose scents inhabiting the space of the work. The mandalas are left to dry as the petals are reduces to a quarter of their original size. At the end, the mandala is dismantled in a final performance. The Rose Mandalas have been swept up, gathered and thrown to the winds or blown away by human in breath by myself and the audience. These installation / performances reflect the ephemeral process of change, age, decay and emptiness.
The wheel of birth, death, life, turns often as I pass along these halls and cross thresholds. An intricately, brightly woven 18th-century Tibetan mandala hangs on a wall. Occupying an entire room, “Rose Mandala” by Chrysanne Stathacos seems casual. She has sprinkled many-colored petals on a circular mirror and beyond its edge, which scatter as I tread carefully and become aware of a rush broom in a far corner and, hung along the wall, bags of sweepings. An effect of everyday work and time and humble art and impermanence. The artist’s comments on her intention and sources prove both rich and unneeded; the work works by itself. from A Poetry of Transience, by Joseph McElroy for Shambhala Sun
The Rose Mandala series have been presented at :
The Temptation of AA Bronson: A Finissage, 2013-14
The Rose Mandala Mirror ( of Three Reflections) at The Temptation of AA Bronson at the Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. Press includes Metropolis M , Hyperallergic & here- the Consolation of Temptation , All is Full of Love , Art in America, Art Forum Phantasmaphile, and Springerin.
Being There. 2014, Amy Lipton of Lipton Arts, NY. NY,
Natural Wishing, 2012, The Textile Museum, 5×5 Initiative , Washington DC, curated by Amy Lipton
Compassion, Institute of Art, Religion and Social Justice, Union, NY, NY curated by AA Bronson, 2012
Rose Mandala (of Three Reflections) Anderson Gallery, University of Buffalo, NY, 2008
Wade, Wade Collective, Toronto, Ontario, 2008
another chance, Nature Morte, New Delhi , India, 2005
another chance, PS122, New York, NY, USA, 2005
biCHANCE, Perfomance/installation, Participant Inc, New York ,NY. 2004
Cross Your Fingers, Project fur Kunst und Kultur, Frankfurt, Germany, 2003
Invisible Thread, The Buddhism Project, Snug Harbor, NY, NY, 2003
Petal Pusher, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada, 1999