Le Rouge et le Noir

紅與黑

Oil, acrylic, emulsion, and ballast on canvas

120 x 160cm, 2019

These things came to pass, they say, that Jesus might be made the first sacrifice in the discrimination of composite natures.

––— Hippolytus, Elenchos, VII, 26, 8

Mandala 曼陀羅

下滑见中译

These six greenhouse paintings—from one winter to the next—complete a circle, forming my Mandala. The term Mandala, drawn from the Sanskrit for “circle,” resonates through Eastern traditions—Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto—evoking the cosmos, balance, and unity. It stands for a sacral locus wherein the finite self meets the infinite, a psychic geometry of transcendence.

For Carl Jung, the Mandala represents the Self, a numinous image of the psyche’s striving for wholeness through individuation. Thus, the Mandala at once reflects the particular inward journey of self-discovery and the grand outward order of the cosmos. It harmonises microcosm and macrocosm, inner sanctum and universal design, forever mediating between our immediate, mortal apprehensions and an eternal pattern beyond.

“Every birth entails separation from the cosmos, enclosure within limits, isolation from God, and painful self-renewal.”