Click on the photo to hear Henry Mandell discuss Tatara Fire and his studio practice
Henry Mandell’s paintings and drawings are products of his ongoing exploration of contemporary artistic practices, scientific principles, the human condition and their merging effect on our lives. Trained as a traditional painter and printmaker, Mandell uses computers and software to build compelling abstract imagery.
Using digital and analog tools his work is created in live vector space, digitally painting by hand many thousands of elements and combining these with manipulated scanned imagery. Many of the artworks are the result of transforming text, stories, poetry, scientific research and many other sources into paintings rendered onto aluminum or canvas using high resolution industrial ultraviolet polymer printers.
Mandell’s work concerns patterns in nature and in language, overcoming his own limitations with decoding language as a child, the artwork emerges from his ability to see patterns in ways that are unique and intricate. Pioneering experiments have evolved artworks that are meticulously crafted and full of energy.
He describes the power of using digital tools in this way. "...Have you ever looked through a telescope at the night sky? I’m working off that hit, that epiphany that came from having this uncanny device change the perspective of my vision forever. Computers and vector space can do this for art, depicting the patterns of reality. It's clear to me that patterns have their own rationale, beyond decoding. Seeing them can lead to experiencing mysteries. Don’t we turn to art to ask questions that can’t be asked anywhere else?”
Henry Mandell was born in New York City and received a BFA in Fine Art from Ithaca College. He then studied art at The School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design in New York City. Mandell’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States, including Lanoue Gallery in Boston, Judith Charles Gallery In New York, Brintz Gallery in Palm Beach, the Museum Of Fine Arts Boston and University of Michigan Museum of Art. His work is held by museum, corporate and private collections.
As the Project Manager for The Estate of Mark Rothko, Mandell has established digital archives of the artist’s artworks, writings and photographs as well as managing digital assets, reproductions and licensing of Rothko’s work in support of The Collections of Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko.
Currently he lives and works in the Pacific Northwest, with production facilities in New York City and Portland, Oregon.