Final piece process

Gonkar Gyatso

Shangri La, 2014

Mixed media collage on Aluminium backed honeycomb panel

76 x 76 cm (29 9/10 x 29 9/10 in.)

  My first piece was done on A4 sized canvas. The piece was influenced by Gyatso Gonkar, the materials I used were pencils (H, HB and 2B), marker pens, technical drawing pens (0.3) and Acrylic paint. The artist's works often use variety of materials and most of his works are considered mixed media, so I decided to apply the same style for this piece.

I drew the lotus from a bird's eye view using HB and 3B on paper. This was a rough sketch of the lotus, it is going to be outlined and coloured later on.
On the actual A4 canvas for the piece, I painted it blue with acrylic paint. I mixed the blue paint with water to dilute the colour and make it more translucent.

The image on the left is the plan I made for this piece on Photoshop. The Buddha statue would be at the centre of the canvas and the gray-scale is image is the lotus in bird's eye view, I changed the lotus because both image had strong colour and I wanted the statue to stand out the most.

After I sketched the lotus, I outlined the lotus using a red marker. On areas where there is shadow, I used the colourless blender marker to make the red marker colour spread to the area, the blender diluted the colour so it would not look too strong.

After outlining the lotus, I used acrylic paint again. I blended red, white and yellow together (red with little bit of yellow and white) in to create a light red/dark peach colour. I started off with translucent light red colour formed by mixing the paint with water for the base layer. After I finished the base, I applied the same shade of colour but with less dilution so the colour in areas where there is shadow are more opaque.

Start of the Buddha's silhouette part. I drew out the body of the statue and boxes where I will write down the scripture.

My original plan was to write the message up to the face of the Buddha as well but I changed this and painted the head in a darker tone to make the statue feel familiar yet foreign, create a distance for the audience and the artwork as if the well-known figure is being forgotten. For the corners of the canvas, I made four acetate lotus using the sellotape method, I used sellotape instead because with the sellotape I can scrub the print more and make the lotus look more faint and worn out to create an aging effect.

Miniature replica

Gonkar Gyatso
Untitled, 2012

I decided to recreate Gonkar Gyatso's Untitled Sculpture in a small size. I initially planned on using a plastic doll which would have it head removed and layer it with words associated with culture like names of festivals. I ended up creating a model out of scratch because I could no find any dolls that were close to my specific ideals.

The skeletal structure is made of paper clip, which I unwind and bind it to other paper clips. I used masking tape so the areas with weak bonds will not come undone.

I wrapped and stuffed it with toilet paper, it took 3 days for the tissues to dry. I used toilet paper because it was easy to mold it around the skeletal figure.

The stickers were not able to stick to the tissue papers. I applied masking tape to the whole body so the stickers can attach to the statue.


The stickers don't stick so well to the masking tape so I might change the tickers to strips of sentences instead.
The strips of sentences being Nepalese scriptures. Similar to Gonkar Gyatso's other work; Untitled (detail) from 2008 where he used Buddhist/Tibetan scripture on the silhouette of the Buddha.

Gonkar Gyatso

Gonkar Gyatso is a Tibetan-British artist who was born in 1961 in Lhasa, Tibet. Gyatso attained a B.F.A in Chinese Brush Painting at the Minzu University of China in Beijing. He also studied Thangka, which is traditional Tibetan scroll painting in Dharamsla. Gyatso moved to London during the 90’s with a scholarship to the Central St. Martins College in London. He attained his MA in Fine Art. [2] [3]

                                                                                                             [1]
Interview with Gonkar Gyatso, January 23rd 2014 [4]
HK: What led you to work with imagery of Buddha?
GG: The shape is how I deliver my own vision of the harmonious coexistence of a lot of different things. For instance, when you look at the outline of one work it is [the form of] a reclining Buddha, but when you look inside there are 10 or 20,000 stickers in one piece. And these stickers come from different places, represent different meanings, and I try to put them all together—it’s kind of like Hong Kong, really. But they’re all living quite happily together, very harmoniously. It’s also related to the Buddhist idea of tolerance—you have to be open, you have to be kind, and tolerant of anything.

“With a long interest in material and pop culture, Gyatso often combines references to traditional Tibetan life with references to the global mass-media culture that is constantly interacting with, and shaping, our current perspectives of cultural identity. By confronting the undeniable bond between his homeland’s religion and politics Gyatso throws into question what is considered traditional, whilst addressing the many new cultural hybrid identities to which globalisation has given rise.” [5]

A lot of Gonkar Gyatso's works feature Buddha since Buddhism is very influential in traditional Tibetan lifestyle and right now, my main focus of culture is on my miniature Buddha statue. So I think this artist will be a good source for ideas and techniques. I admire the way he is able to blend two contrasting ideas into one harmonious piece with subtle or vivid references to religion, politics and pop-culture. His interest in the fusion of tradition and modernisation is often depicted in his work and also in how his work is presented. He uses mixed media collage frequently to represent his idea on the concept of pop-culture seeping into the traditional Tibetan life.  His work can also represent the decay of traditional values as the influence of modern ideology increases and how tradition will soon be nothing more than f a d e d  m e m o r i e s . . .

Gonkar Gyatso
Shangri La, 2014
Mixed media collage on Aluminum backed honeycomb panel
76 x 76 cm (29 9/10 x 29 9/10 in.)

In this piece, the Tibetan mandala has been consumed by a flame with a group of people surrounding it with cameras and many other mobile technologies (planes, jets, helicopters, etc)This represents the religion been used as a commercial subject, the camera at the top right corner shows that the whole culture is been recorded for the purpose of educational entertainment/ documentary on religion.
Or this artwork could represent the Cultural Revolution when China tried to oppress the Buddhism influence. The black drawing like the helicopters and jets represent China trying to oppress the Buddhism, which is represented by the mandala. The flame could represent either the fall of Buddhism or the everlasting passion of the Buddhism which the oppressors could not put out.

Gonkar Gyatso, Untitled (silver base), 2012, mixed media collage, and pencil on resin sculpture,
(16 x 18 x 12in)                                                                  
Image courtesy the artist and Pearl Lam Galleries.

Gyatso used one of Buddha’s famous pose, removed their head and applied logos and stickers on to the body. This could represent how the teachings or the identity of Buddhism is slowly lost in the modern world and especially with the new-born generations. The collage itself was not named to further hint the loss of culture in the artist’s perception.









Bibliography:

[1] Photo of Gonkar Gyatso - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/arts/international/tibetan-artists-like-gonkar-gyatso-are-rising-to-the-fore-in-contemporary-art.html?_r=0

[2] Biography - http://www.gonkargyatso.co.uk/about-the-artist/artist's-bio

[3] Biography - http://hk-magazine.com/city-living/article/gonkar-gyatso

[4] Interview - http://hk-magazine.com/city-living/article/gonkar-gyatso

[5] Press Release - http://artradarjournal.com/2014/09/26/pop-phraseology-in-hong-kong-tibetan-artist-gonkar-gyatso-interview/

[6] Shangri La - http://www.pearllam.com/artist/gonkar-gyatso/

[7] Untitled work - http://artradarjournal.com/2014/09/26/pop-phraseology-in-hong-kong-tibetan-artist-gonkar-gyatso-interview/