UB Anderson Gallery to Present Rose Mandala (of Three Reflections) by Chrysanne Stathacos

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In conjunction with the upcoming visit by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery will present Rose Mandala (of Three Reflections) by Chrysanne Stathacos through Dec. 1.

UB Anderson Gallery, located on Martha Jackson Place near Englewood and Kenmore, is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. (Closed Thanksgiving Day). Admission to the museum and exhibition is free.

A contemporary complement to the ancient practice performed by the Tibetan monks at UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, the Rose Mandala (of Three Reflections) is a temporal installation that explores the ephemeral process of change and mortality within transient time. Created by plucking dozens of roses apart and placing the petals around circular mirrors, these ethereal environments wind through the gallery. Artist-designed meditation benches (inspired by Algonquin Park) made from walnut logs, will enable the visitor to sit in contemplation within the work. The installation will be left to dry, shrinking over time, and will be swept up, gathered or blown away by human breath in performance.

The artist will give a talk at UB Anderson Gallery on Dec. 1, where the audience will be invited to participate in the final performance. Stathacos plans to disperse the petals in the Niagara River, not far from where her father was born in Niagara Falls.

Stathacos is a multi-media artist and educator whose art works and interactive public art projects have traveled to museums, public spaces and contemporary art galleries on four continents. Her art practice makes connections between ritual actions and contemporary performance/installation art to create cross-cultural hybrid works that directly engage the public.

Stathacos' site-specific installations include: Another Chance, Classroom Project Space at PS122 Gallery; biChance, Participant Inc., New York; Projectburo fur Kunst und Kultur, Frankfurt Germany; The Invisible Thread, The Buddhism Project , Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, NY; Nature Morte New Delhi, and for the City of Toronto, 2006.

Her first interactive public art work, The Wish Machine, originally commissioned by Creative Time for Grand Central Station, New York (1997), has traveled to train stations, and museums, including The Power Plant Art Gallery, Toronto, Ludwig Forum Museum and the Frankfurt Train Station, Germany. In 2001, Stathacos received a fellowship from The Japan Foundation to research wishing actions in Japan. This resulted in her next public interactive art work, Refuge, A Wish Garden (2003), first presented at the Gardenschau, Grossenheim Germany, and currently on view at The Abington Art Center in Philadelphia (2006). Stathacos is also a co-curator with Peggy Gale and Fern Bayer of the Yorkville Zone of Pasts Re-Framed, an all-night public art event for Nuit Blanche with the City of Toronto on Sept. 30.

Stathacos has produced three artists books, and so beautiful (1995), 1000+ Wishes (1999) and Invisible Colors (2002) from The Aura Project. She is currently working on her next book, Natural Wishing, as well as a secret project to take place in Greece and India.

Art from the Land of Compassion

Rose Mandala (of Three Reflections) is one of five exhibitions hosted by the UB Art Galleries in conjunction with the upcoming visit by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

UB Anderson Gallery will also host Thangka Paintings from Western New York Collections and a series of lectures and programs, to be announced.

UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts will host Mandala Sand Painting: A Sacred Art by the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling Monastery, Building Culture: Druk White Lotus School: a sustainable model for education + design and Tibetan Art from the Rubin Museum of Art.

Visit http://www.ubartgalleries.buffalo.edu for more information.

UB Anderson Gallery is supported with funds from the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Anderson Gallery Program Fund and the UB Collection Care and Management Endowment Fund.