David Annesley is known for his open-form, metal sculptures inspired by his time as a pilot in the RAF. In the early 1960s he was part of the New Generation group of sculptors taught by Anthony Caro. They were recognised for being bold and innovative, by placing sculpture on the ground and for using bright colours and new materials, such as fibreglass, aluminium and plastic.

Mandala Eighty is a reference to the mandala, an ancient symbolic diagram. In Hindu and Buddhist cultures it represents the cosmos or deities in various heavenly worlds and is also viewed as an instrument for meditation. Annesley first encountered drawings of the mandala in the literature of Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. He found its geometric form to be restorative, which inspired numerous mandala works. Annesley uses the motif of the mandala to convey the inner workings of his mind when he was a pilot.

Mandala Eighty is made up of several large-scale interlinking mandala forms. There is a sense of movement and weightlessness to the work, with the loose and linear outlines emulating plane trails in the sky. It offers calmness and equilibrium.

Installed in 2024, Mandala Eighty can be found in the Lower Park, overlooking the lake near to David Nash's Black Mound and 49 Square sculptures in the landscape.

David Annesley (b.1936) lives and works in London. He studied sculpture at St Martin’s School of Art, graduating in 1961. His work was featured in a major exhibition at YSP in 2017 and is held in many public collections, including British Council Collection and MoMA, New York. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1995.