Ouroboros is a greek word for the image of a snake eating its tail, the circular form representing eternity and the cycle of life and death in cultures around the world, as well as a symbol for the ancient pursuit of alchemy. The circular form mirrors the Mandala of Buddhist belief, and is the starting point for this artwork, first shown at Toronto’s Koffler Center of the Arts’ Spin Off: Contemporary Art Circling the Mandala.

Gary James Joynes’ Ouroboros uses the physical properties of sound to explore the sacred form of Mandalas used as a meditative tool in Buddhist and Hindu spiritual practice. Joynes layers his voice with synthesized pure tones in a chant-like song cycle as the tones manifest their visible waveforms from chaos. One after another, five different complex geometric patterns form and disappear into a sculpted sand bed; sacred sounds and sacred forms encourage the viewer to slow their world and experience the infinite.

Gary James Joynes (aka Clinker) is an award-winning sound and visual artist that has been active in the international electronic and experimental music performance community for years. He has more recently embarked on a broader artistic exploration he calls Frequency Painting using his analog synthesizers and custom made machines to create “visual-sound” as photograph/drawing/sculpture hybrids along with immersive and unending installation environments.