We’re kicking off our Monday Mantra series to infuse your week with a little mindfulness and self-care. Today, we’re setting our intentions while contemplating Tom Wudl’s sublime painting, “One Hundred Trillion Concentrations” (2015).⁠⠀

This painting’s organization recalls traditional Tibetan mandalas, which serve as visual aids for meditation. Like a mandala, the work’s central image is surrounded at each corner by echoing but distinct forms. A net of flowers is cast over the entire surface. The Avatamsaka Sutra, a seminal text for the artist and his work, refers to flowers as a symbol for wisdom and spiritual development. Here, they exist independently, but when combined together form a collective whole that emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things.⁠⠀

As many of us are confined to our homes this week, let’s remember our fundamental connectedness, and the wisdom and development that can be found in quiet moments.

Swipe up in our story to learn more about Wudl’s exhibition “The Flowerbank World,” featuring works by Wudl inspired by the Avatamsaka Sutra, presented alongside works by other artists that have embraced the sacred in their artistic output – from Kandinsky and Agnes Martin to an Australian Aboriginal painting and a Tibetan Thangka. ⁠

Learn more here.