I went to the Rubin Museum of art last week (Labor day weekend),
I was so inspired by the works and pieces that they have in the museum. To me the overall theme of the museum was about religions and beliefs, most of the work were from Asian region, such as West China, Nepal, India and Bhutan. Most of the sculpture of their painting and statues were very into details, and mostly about man-kind, very traditional and historical.
All of the mandala paintings were presented in it’s richer colors and there figures and symbol of Buddhist. It’s a way of showing the artist’s beliefs and attitude towards history and culture.
I also figured out that a lots of the painting liked to use the colour of red. For some reason, this strong red palette and pattern can really drag my attentions to the work. For all the painting that i’ve saw, they were all asymmetry, there was no specific pattern to any of them. However, when you step back a little, you can find the pattern and understand how it goes. this is what interest me.
For example, the face appears on this print was all in different kinds and colors. However, when you put them together, it gives the kind of feeling of collage. Also, the colour was sharp and it stand out while reflect on the red colour. It amazing.
This one is my favourite, it looks like a giant monster when you first saw it, but there was actually a story of how mankind was lived from the beginning till the end. It’s the samsara of human being. The whole paint looks even, but when you look up there’s a moon and a buddha, the buddha stand out as the one who controls your life. This is how the religious beliefs shown in past.
On the other hand, the one below is more likely to be about the status in the whole religious story and how they believe the system works.
After all those painting from Himalayan and Tibet, I also found out that the mandala can be present in materials too. This picture is a prayer 
wheel that people can normally see outside the Asian temple.
Furthermore, when you take a look at the prints on the wheel, you can tell the symmetry pattern was very delicate. and beautiful. Personally, I really like to see how the idea had been transform to another type of used. It’s every interesting.
After all, the Rubin museum had really made my day, and all the works that I’ve seen was really helpful when i create my own mandala. Now i had a better understanding on how to passing the mean idea of my work, and I’m looking forward to create more out from that!!
That’s my day~~~ Wonderful
