EMF DISC 1

EMF Disc Art Series: Exploring the Flashing Telesmatic Mandalion

“Mandalion” is a contraction of the words “Mandala” and “Medallion,” emphasizing a material manifestation of a discoid shape with holistic symmetric properties. The series begins with oil paintings and then moves into a variety of other media, both physical and digital.

The theory behind the series is that the “disc as symbol” is central to our culture. Rendered as the CD or “Compact Disc,” it disseminates informational media through light ray extrapolation. If you take a CD and reflect light off of it, you will notice the entire spectrum of color running in rays along the disc’s aluminum coil. However, within the coil and the interplay of the light spectrum there exists another level of information, depending on what has been imprinted thereon.  The disc is thus a virtual 2D flat interface capable of storing and generating powerful 4D projections from apparently hidden reservoirs – whether they are text, images, animations, sounds, movies or some diverse combination of digital information. We can see the silver of the aluminum and the light that reflects from the surface, but we are not able to watch the movies or listen to the music, just by looking at the disc.

In order to really demonstrate its full contents, the modern disc (CD/DVD etc) requires an additional series of mechanisms before it can project its data. Finally, it needs a screen for display and proper viewing. This project takes that analogy and grafts it onto a human context. Let's say that when viewing this art you are viewing the bottom side of a CD or DVD, the one containing the deeply embedded information. Instead of a series of supplemental cords and a combination of the plastic, metallic, and electronic circuitry in devices that read and translate the disc information, we have the human psycho-physical complex, especially the ocular sensory apparati, the eyes. And instead of a plasma screen or a computer monitor, we utilize the Electromagnetic Field or Frontier of the imagination itself. This may help in trying to understand  the theory behind this artwork.

The series explores the disc concept and its multifaceted ramifications, imaginatively with oil paints. On the disc’s surface there is no attempt to create 3D illusions - those are left to be projected within the imagination after gazing upon the flat surface of the disc. The flatness, therefore must be conserved for the highest possible concentration of force and form information. So, within the disc’s radius there are only 2D abstract representations and configurations compounded into a circular mandala format with color added. These are meditations on the form-forming force given free rein on the palette of the disc shape. How can we concentrate information intended for the human psyche? Through symbols.

Background elements will generally be done in complementary colors to offset the disc and cause it to “flash” and whirl in the imagination of the viewer. On occasion, the disc may be more embedded or camouflaged. The whole process is an exploratory and experimental journey into interior realms. A small black circle/hole occupies the center of each disc in order to draw attention to the middle of the mandala. Each one contains elements of order and chaos, symmetry and unconditioned force. But the overriding principle of harmony establishes a supreme balance.

The disc is also an ancient symbol related to solar concepts of power, luck, and will. So, in the realm of art, data becomes information, information becomes knowledge and knowledge becomes wisdom. In this sense, we begin to cross the line from physics into metaphysics. The real subject of the work is thus psychological. The series will attempt to tap into dynamic reservoirs of human energy and imagination, making possible other forms of contact and communication.

In the spirit of the old Tibetan thangkas or magical mandalas of the ancient shamans and yogi, each work is meant to be meditated upon and internalized in order to unlock and activate whirling discs within the psyche. In Eastern traditions these are sometimes referred to as chakras, which is a sanskrit word meaning “wheels.”

Each work contains more data-information-knowledge-wisdom than is at first visible on the surface, just like a CD. 

As above, so below.

I AM HE WHO TURNS IN THE DISC