Gonkar Gyatso Om Gonkar Gyatso Mixed Media 2006 Image © OBS Gallery
Gonkar Gyatso was born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1961. He studied traditional Chinese painting in Beijing, followed by traditional Tibetan scroll painting (Thangka) in Dharamsala and then gained a scholarship to study art at Chelsea College of Art, London where he completed an MA. Gyatso is known for his work that bridges Eastern and Western culture, often tackling issues of identity, culture, consumerism and mass media.
“The funny thing is that capitalism erodes one side of tradition but, through its desire to grow, promotes another side of culture. People can argue that new, more materialistic culture is less authentic. The problem with modern practice is that its objectification of culture is often exploitative and leaves those who gave birth to the culture at the losing end. On the other side, when religious practice becomes too extreme it can be oppressive. My ideal is a co-existence between the two and I try to reflect that through my work.” http://images.anthonymeierfinearts.com/ www_anthonymeierfinearts_com/Gyatso_Artspace_2012.pdf
Om playfully considers the popularisation of Buddhism in the West. Gyatso depicts this word from the Buddhist chant using hundreds of brightly coloured stickers from popular culture, creating an image that blends commercialism with spirituality and causes his audience to consider two diverse notions of inconography at once. The work questions stereotypical ideas regarding Tibetan culture by combining mass media ‘noise’ with traditional craftsmanship. The other work in the exhibition, My Identity, is a series of 4 photographs that depicts Gyatso’s identity as an artist and reflects upon the contradictions inherent in different cultures. He is shown as a traditional Tibetan painter creating a devotional image of the Buddha, as a Chinese propaganda artist, as a Tibetan in exile in Dharamsala and in his current studio working on a highly abstract mandala. Gyatso lives and works in London and New York and exhibits internationally.
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Gonkar Gyatso
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