Personal exhibition from the 12th of October through the 11th of November 2006
Signature of books by the author on thursday 12th and friday 13th of October from 5 to 7pm.
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JACQUES BROSSE (1922-2008), French writer and naturalist, is the author of around forty books, including World Explorers,The Great Sea Voyages, 1764-1843,with a preface by Fernand Braudel (Bordas, 1983), translated into English and Spanish, and Promised Lands (Julliard, 1985), the record his own world tour experience. He also wrote the first biography of explorer and writer Alexandra David-Neel (Retz, 1978).
Mandala and Third eye
In the many forms of Asian Spirituality, enlightenment is known as the "opening the third eye". Indeed, for Orientals we have three eyes: two human eyes, and a third eye, immense, unbounded, which does not blink and never closes. This eye is not real since it is intangible, rather it is a welcoming space in which all of the world is reflected, just like in a mirror.
Thus, at first glance, appear to me the Mandala of Jacques Brosse. A figuration of our third eye.
Any circle consists of a center and a periphery. As in the case of a labyrinth or a fractal object, it is the center of the Mandala that catches our attention. While the perimeter, the color of the iris is perceptible to the senses and is defined in time and space, the central point, the pupil, remains a mystery beyond all representation, a black hole, a circular opening covered by a diaphragm that captures rays of light. Projected vertically into three dimensions, circle and point become cone, cylinder or tube whose end is lost to infinity: vortex, channel, or better yet, an all-encompassing sphere. This is where the Mandala of Jacques Brosse become extremely interesting. For, indeed, the pictures he paints are the representations of the light that comes across from the other side. The eyes of Jacques Brosse are lakes sparkling in the sun. They invite to plunge into the primeval waters, waters that wash, purifying in the sense that the eyes are windows to the soul, gateway to Transcendance. As evidenced repeatedly by traditional holy texts, eyes are not meant to see, but to dazzle. To radiate the power of the stars, worlds in revolution that burn so intensely that words can not describe it.
This light travels the path that reaches the eyes, it comes to us filtered by the eyes and brush of Jacques Brosse, in a soft magnetic clarity. Elysian light emerges from the depths of the soul, refracted in a thousand colored rays, in order that he who crosses that look awakens and marvels. That his Inner Eye should open and, in turn, radiate is the entire meaning of these Mandala.
Marc HIGONNET
> See the pictures of the opening night
> Discover the group : Jacques BROSSE, french writer, buddhist monk...
Further reading (in French) :
Le Figaro, Terre d'Eveil, Buddhachannel, Sagesses bouddhistes (France 2 video), Editions Albin Michel, France Culture