Carol Nussbaum: Mandala Play

Proposal: For this residency, I propose using the word “play” in relation to
children’s games, focusing on toys, classic games, game pieces, and dolls. Just as children’s play is educational, I am “playing” with the notion that children’s toys, turned into art, can be enjoyable to view but also a tool for teaching.

With this focus, I will create a digital art series with items of play infused into a circular Sanskrit image, a mandala. With my original photographs deconstructed, then woven into and repeated in a circular shape, I will be able to transform a traditional instrument of meditation into something active and current. Using computer software like Adobe Photoshop, I will manipulate and digitally enhance my original images just enough to create something that interests the eye.

I intend to repeat lines, shapes, and objects at regular intervals but in unexpected ways. If play leads children in unanticipated directions, I hope my art will have the same effect on viewers.

I hope what I create elicits questions, forcing the viewer to reconsider what is seen. How does the old become new? Can what’s manufactured become meaningful? Can toys be seen as fine art?

Traditionally, the mandala circle contains a center point balancing the visual elements, symbolizing unity and harmony. With the center now a collection of manipulated graphic images, a sacred symbol transforms into something aesthetically pleasing but also playful and dynamic. The viewer, engaged by the unusual juxtapositions, is challenged but also has to play along.

Bio: I am a photography based artist who digitally enhances and manipulates my images. I investigate the details, depth, shapes, patterns and graphic aspects of each original photograph and then take it apart and strip it down. My mandala work is a compilation of a variety of photographic subjects, ranging from children’s toys to bicycle handles, woven and repeated into a “mandala” or circle. Found in every culture and faith, a mandala is structured around a unifying center and represents both wholeness and the universe. These elements bring a new mood or movement to the structure and art experience as the eye playfully travels across the surface.

www.carolnussbaum.com