Joe Mangrum

I was looking at some artists who work outside in public for some encouragement to move outside too and found this artist! At the moment although i really want to work outside in public i don't have enough confidence, hopefully after looking at a couple of artists who work outside i will be more confident with myself. The most scary part of working outside for me is getting into trouble, however i have to try working outside as i believe that's where my art leads me at the moment. My fear needs to be overcome!

Joe Mangrum works with colored sand, making spontaneous designs in circular formation. 

"My paintings are influenced by an abundant world of undersea creatures, carnivorous plants emanating electrical impulses, a living mathematical amalgam and botanical geometry stemming cross-cultural metaphors from many years of travels around the world."

Mangrum takes his inspiration of nature which i try too but also from the everyday marks found around me. They can be both from nature and not and the way i work with marks are also inspirations from nature, particularly natural formations that have a set design and are perfectly formed such as seas shells and ammonites. Although they have a set design they have small imperfections but they are like human error perfect as that makes them unique. This links with the table top work, although i try and spin a paint stain perfectly in a circle there would be unevenness as well as the difference between each tracing of the mark and that adds interest and uniqueness to the work. This is because i allow "human error" to occur when in fact its just my interpretation of the mark each time i trace it and spin it. This also happens in nature. 

"...society divided from nature and compartmentalized into definable groups, disconnected physically, and spiritually from the whole." 

Yes i too think that society is divided from nature and need to connect more with the nature around us. I frequently go to parks, forests, beaches, sky, sunshine where i think i receive energy from and recharge. As well as gemstones, flowers, leaves etc. 

"It is no accident that they mostly follow a circular form, though I do not describe them as mandalas."

For me what Mangrum creates are not mandalas but formations that symbolize unity, endlessness and infinite nature of energy, inclusivity of the universe. That is why i too feel comfortable with the circle symbol and creating work that is circular. A lot of things around us are circular - planets, time, life cycle etc. And so by creating more circles they connect and become whole.

"My art is about interconnectivity and co-existence within the natural order of life"

~Ev