Each layer of the Mandala is an exploration of the absurdity of war. This was two-years on the easel which included research time. A note here is that the red area is the wall.

This detail of Mandala shows the center piece which is a QR code. When scanned, the code will take you to the video entitled, "Collateral Murder" which was taken off Wikileaks and posted on Youtube by Birgitta Jonsdittor and Julian Assange. You should be able to get a scan from this image.

Carl Jung is in the astronaut suit. He is discovering the archetype of the circle in the collective unconscious. The American flag on his sleeve is upside-down as a sign of distress because the day I was painting that area, W.Bush attacked Iraq. The side panels are vertical slivers from ancient circular mandala painted in a more traditional Tibetan style. The left panel is from the "Wheel of Life," (Hell). The right panel is from the "Shambhala" mandala, (Heaven). The work is on three separate canvases and detach for shipping.

My mother died in May, 2010. I used some of her ashes in the pigment for this painting. Note the female Buddha above the door holding a cup of tea. My mother was a great tea drinker. The branch on the ground in front is a symbol of her letting go of her physical body and entering through the temple door.

This work is cut using phi (1.618), the "golden ratio. Each peice of canvas is mounted on foam core board and one-inch wood spines. Each peice hangs seperately on "indian grips" with a one-inch space between the pieces. It floats out from the wall one-inch.

I photographed this pilgrim in Lhasa (Tibet) on my first trip there in 1983. This work was created for an inviational exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art that will compliment the Edward Manet Portrait Exhibit in the Fall of 2012.

Painted between March 15th and August 15th, 2011. Based on location sketches Phil made at Sabu Monastery in Ladakh where he and his wife stayed for several weeks at the Tibetan Refugee Community of Chhoglamsar. The painting explores our tendency to carry, through life, the unneeded baggage of religious doctrine.