Maureen Drdak
Atman 2
2019
Acrylic and 23.k gold on Twinrocker handmade paper
27" diameter

About the work

"ATMAN 2" draws upon Asian conceptions to represent the release of the soul from the material world. The soul, or Atman (Sanskrit), is represented by a golden bindu (dot) floating upon the cosmic void. The undulating circular forms of the paint registers reference the forms of the saggital sutures of the cranium, from which in Tibetan and Hindu thought the soul is thought to emerge at the time of death. Drawing upon ancient Asian metaphysical conceptions, the work is a contemporary meditation of impermanence.

About the artist

For the past decade Drdak's work has employed the unique synthesis of repoussé metalwork and painting. This congress of materials-the first of its kind-was pioneered by Drdak and definitively established during her 2011 Fulbright research fellowship to Nepal where she studied with the finest living masters of this elite practice; the grandsons of the famed Kuber Singh Shakya of Patan, Nepal. Drdak is the first and only artist to date working with this material synthesis. Drdak travels widely in pursuit of her visions; her research has taken her to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Nepal and the Himalayas; Drdak's work references universal paradigms of mythic archetypes--both ancient and contemporary forces converge in her work. A graduate of the both the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia-- she is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2011-2012 U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar Award for Nepal. Drdak has received personal support from H. F. Lenfest and Eugene V. Thaw for Lung-Ta, an interdisciplinary collaborative with international composer Dr. Andrea Clearfield inspired by the Tibetan Kingdom of Lo in the Nepalese Himalayas; Lung-Ta premiered at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2009 and the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel in May, 2012. Her work is found in numerous public, private, and university collections within the US and abroad.

InLiquid, maureendrdak.com

Buyer assumes all S&H costs