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Name:
Peter Barreda
Residence:
Miami, Florida, USA
Born:
Year of the Monkey |
I've been
drawing mandalas in one form or another for as long as I can
remember, before I understood either their spiritual or their
psychological significance. Since then I've learned much about
them that has come to fascinate me, not the least of which are
their amazing Jungian references to some unknown yet common universal
link between us all, or between us and our distant, forgotten
origins. |
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All my mandalas are in black and white.
They are about the duality of the universe, about darkness and
light, center and periphery, positive and negative, being and
non-being, even the simultaneously unique and infinite arrangement
of elementary particles that make up everything in the universe,
from stars to stones to the spirit within each of us. The black
is representative of matter, mystery and the unconscious. The
white represents energy, knowledge and the self. Each mandala
is an instant, and at the same time an eternity-- a captured
moment, a feeling that will never be repeated.
I create my mandalas using pen and ink
on acid-free paper, over a lightly-penciled grid to ensure a
degree of symmetry. This allows me to be true to what I perceive
as the execution of all universal structures-- to be perfect
in their planned form, yet each with its own unique fluctuation
and variety. Sometimes the images have been swimming around in
my head for weeks, sometimes I don't have a clue what's coming
next. But always they feel right and proper, as if I'm uncovering
an ancient truth that has lain dormant and forgotten for ages.
These are the truths of the universal circle, within which we
all exist. |
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The circle
is the most archetypal form, its shape is simple yet within its
potential resides all that is possible. It is symbolic of the
universe without and within, the space that stretches away from
us and toward the deepest recesses of the self. It is simple,
efficient and beautiful. It is ancient yet constantly reborn.
It is the cycle of days, years and eons; it is birth and death
and rebirth; it is the sun in the sky and the droplets in the
clouds; it is the primeval source of man, and by extension, consciousness;
it is knowing, forgetting and remembering; it is the ring of
fire around which our ancestors sat and the horizon which marked
the boundaries of their world; it is the mandala inscribed in
the galactic core. The circle is the complete geometry of the
spirit, of the cosmos, and of the unity of the two. It is the
gate, the heart, the breath. It is within us all. |
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