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David Annesley
Mandala Eighty, 2003
Stainless steel
360 W x 380 H x 120D cm
Available for sale
Mandala Eighty is inspired by a series of drawings made by a
psychiatric patient of Dr Carl G. Jung in the 1960s. These drawings
were based on mandala's and a selection of which are published in
'archetypes of the collective unconscious' by C. J. Jung. Mandala is an
ancient Sanskrit word meaning circle, polygon, community or
connection and is a symbol used in various religions, particularly
Buddhism, to represent the universe and self. Drawings that stem
from these ideas often consist of four main elements, linked together
through various linear patterns to a central core. These are made
spontaneously and are designed to explore the sub-conscious
imagination of the individual. They can appear geometrical,
symmetrical and even mathematical, but are created with the same
level of forethought and creativity as a doodle, where intention and
affect are often ambiguous. Annesley draws on his experience as a
pilot in order to create much of his work. Over the past 15 years
Annesley has been focusing on the idea of translating his drawings,
which echo his free-flying experience as a pilot, into threedimensional form. His intention is to allow viewers to experience his
work in a similar way to the movement of an airplane, tracing the
maze of lines around until it becomes clear that each of the segments
are in fact repetitions of the same crystalline shape, twisted at
different positions and angles from a central point of focus.
David Annesley's welded steel sculptures seem to defy the weight of
David Annesley was born in London in 1936 and educated in England,
the material from which they are made, largely through their abstract
Australia and Zimbabwe. After national service as an RAF pilot (1956-
compositions that imply a sense of movement. The forms are layered
58), he studied sculpture at Central St. Martin’s in 1962. Annesley also
and contemplative, large, yet delicate and intricate. Many of his works
tutored at Croydon College of Art, Central St. Martin's College of Art
draw on his interest in Jungian psychology, which he was introduced
and Design and the Royal College of Art from 1963 to 1995.
to forty years ago when he came across a series of mandalas drawn
by a woman in her fifties. She was undergoing analysis with Dr Carl G
Jung, who printed a selection of these mandalas in order to symbolise
the self and harmony within the individual as archetypes of the
collective unconscious. The artist was immediately struck by the
qualities of these drawings that, to him, were both universal and
intensely personal. He took fifteen years to develop a way of making
the mandala into a three-dimensional structure, which has, in turn,
fuelled his creative life ever since.
To make an enquiry please call the office on; 01243538449 or
alternatively, email; [email protected]
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of British sculptors in
1995. Annesley's first solo exhibition was held at the Waddington
galleries in 1966, followed in the same year by a show at the
Poindexter Gallery, New York. Since then he has had many solo shows
in London, New York and Australia, Holland, Germany and the United
States. His sculpture is in many public collections, including those of
the Arts Council; the British council; Tate; the Museum of Modern Art,
New York; the Nagoya Gallery, Japan; and the Gallery of New South
Wales, Australia.