When you look at Joe Mangrum's sand paintings, it's quite hard not to be reminded of the Tibetan Buddhist practice of creating sand mandalas. Sand mandalas are created solely so that they can be destroyed in an homage to the ever-changing nature of life in the material realm. Ceremonies and viewings are held once the sand mandala is finished, but as soon as they are over, the sand mandala is ritually destroyed and the process begins again.

In creating paintings out of sand laid loosely on the ground, Mangrum is, in effect, participating in a very similar process. When he creates a sand painting, he knows with certainty that there is nothing there to hold it together, and it will eventually be destroyed just like the Buddhist sand mandalas. Because of this, there is an ephemerality that is inherent in Mangrum's work that is incredibly hard to find in most other mediums of art.

Many artists are so deeply tied to their work that they cannot bear the thought of a piece ceasing to exist. What did all the hard work mean, all the hours slaving away, all the sleepless night trying to work through a creative streak - were they nothing if the piece is gone? For many creators, the answer would seem to be a resounding 'yes.' For Mangrum, it seems quite obvious that this temporal nature of his work is exactly what makes it so powerful. Each piece represents a brief moment in time, and with each creation, Mangrum must accept the idea of destruction as well. Working in this way removes the focus of creating from the finished product and instead places the focus on the actual act of creating. In a sense, Mangrum's art is much more about his process than it is about the end-line.

The videos below show time-lapse footage of all eight of Mangrum's new pieces that reside in the Doe Museum in Zuidlaren, Netherlands. Each piece blossoms at the hands of Mangrum over a matter of a minute or two, and watching them appear so quickly is like being ushered through eight mini-meditations on time and space.