Buddha Amida

Buddha Amida is rich in associations. It draws together threads from religious, philosophical and art traditions, delving back through history to an iconography that is rooted in both East and West. Since 1983, Gimblett has repeatedly returned to the quatrefoil shape. Comprising four intersecting circles, this ancient motif unites the geometries of circle and square. At once the stained glass window in a Gothic church, a Hindu lotus and a Buddhist mandela, the spreading petals of the quatrefoil seemingly encompass the breadth of human history.

While Buddhism is generally associated with simplicity or economy of means, the elaborate patterning and opulent layers of colour in this painting recall the arabesques of Islamic art. Gimblett’s gilded icon is also a meditation on time passing, as the tactile drips of paint allow us to trace the progress of the artist’s brush over the canvas.

See more detail about this artwork