Lawrence University
Student Art Exhibition Purchase Award

Artist: Nolan Riegler
Title: wrap a mandala/ around me so that i may/ become transcendent (day #3)
Date: 2004

About the artist and the work:
"Wrap" (to abbreviate the title) was originally devised as a performance. For one week I sat in the center of the Wriston Amphitheater for one hour each night typing the haiku/title of the piece on a mechanical typewriter. Six images were projected around me each night, they being parts of a whole manipulated mandala image specific to that day of the performance. These images were later pieced together digitally and made into a set of seven light boxes, one for each day of the performance, which were originally shown alongside of video footage of the performance and the paper typed-on during it. A mandala is an image used as a meditative tool intended to depict the act of creation. They often depict a complex matrix emerging from a single focal point. This light box depicts images projected on the third day. Representing the further complexity of creation as we move further from its central point of origin, this piece contains images of complete objects and entities layered upon the original mandala. These are things of all types: organic, inorganic, conscious, unconscious, living, inanimate, natural, and constructed, referencing not only the natural process of creation, but also artistic and utilitarian creative acts, as well as the process of perception.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the Class of 1965 Event Fund for their generous donation to this project.