The Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

89 Gonkar Gyatso Trouble in paradise In 2009, Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatso has made two related large-scale works. The first, Reclining Buddha – Beijing Tibet relationship index , commissioned for the 53rd Venice Biennale, runs to six metres in length, while the second, Reclining Buddha – Shanghai to Lhasa Express , measures nine metres, and has its first showing at APT6. Both works feature the reclining Buddha as their primary subject — the Buddha in parinirvana , or the state of ultimate bliss, released from the cycles of reincarnation and no longer attached to the temporal world. The elongated structure of these works references the traditional Tibetan book, usually a continuous sheet of paper folded in concertina style; and the Chinese hand scroll, which is rolled at either end and viewed only in sections. The two works mark a substantial development in Gyatso’s art, bringing together in more ambitious forms a number of his signature motifs, including the Buddha figure, various scripts, traditional Tibetan thangka iconography, commercial logos, newspaper clippings, and images taken directly from popular culture. These are drawn from sources as diverse as children’s stickers; the lyrics from European and American pop songs; cartoon characters, such as Pokémon and Spiderman; and the ubiquitous panda. While these works are driven by Gyatso’s analytical interest in Buddhism’s conspicuous rise in global popularity, the volatile relations between China and Tibet also underscore his practice. In Reclining Buddha – Shanghai to Lhasa Express , the surface of the figure is collaged intensively with layers of stickers, fragments of newspaper clippings, magazine advertisements, product labels and promotional logos. This resting Buddha appears encrusted by a great wave of commercial accumulation. If this work metaphorically traces the long railway track from Shanghai to Lhasa, and we read the reclining figure as embodying the extent of this territory, then we can imagine that it is through the feet in Shanghai that this colourful deluge swells to fill the sleeping form. As critic Elaine W Ng has explained: The Qinghai-Tibet Railway was first proposed by Mao Zedong when China established the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1951. The dream of connecting the once-secluded Buddhist capital of Lhasa with the political capital of China was finally realised in 2006. Stretching over 1140 kilometres (710 miles) of land, much of it unstable permafrost, and rising up to 5072 metres above sea level, the rail line . . . promises to bring more opportunity to an economically-challenged region as well as exert greater control over a much disputed territory. 1 Access, opportunity, proximity, progress, change, exchange, loss, conflict and flux — these are some of the words that describe the condition of contemporary life, which apply equally to those living in Lhasa or London, both being home for Gyatso. Having received his formal art training in China, India and the United Kingdom, this mobility has deeply informed his views on the histories of China and Tibet, ensuring an opinion that is far from dogmatic. 2 According to Ng again: ‘He is sympathetic to both the Chinese and Tibetans living in Tibet, but circumspect of the exoticised vision of Tibet being a spiritual Shangri-la’. 3 Although its political content is unquestionable, the structure of Gonkar’s work juxtaposes humorous kitsch and social elements, forcing uncomfortable contradictions. For example, in Angel 2007, the outlined figure is of a Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (the Bodhisattva of compassion) while clearly also echoing the unsettling image of an Iraqi prisoner tortured by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib. 4 Similarly, the seven graceful standing Buddhas in Spring 2008 2009, finely drawn in pencil on a background of gridded script, all sport horned heads like the popular image of the devil. This later work is a response to the violent confrontations between Tibetan and Han Chinese in Lhasa during demonstrations in the spring of 2008. Observing paradox, and acknowledging its place as intrinsic to human character, Gonkar Gyatso’s images are imbued with a sensibility that amalgamates the darkly beautiful, the kitsch, the sombre and the playful. Suhanya Raffel Endnotes 1 Elaine W Ng, ‘Gonkar Gyatso – Reclining Buddha’, Rossi & Rossi Ltd, <http://www. rossirossi.com/worlds/article.doc >, viewed 5 October 2009. Although Ng refers to Beijing in this article, the reference should be to Shanghai. 2 Gyatso grew up in Lhasa and studied at the Central Institute of Nationalities in Beijing before spending time in Dharamsala in north India, where many Tibetans reside, including the exiled Dalai Lama. Here, he leaned about Tibetan art and culture, including the technique of thangka painting. He moved to London in 1996 and completed a Masters in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2000. 3 Ng, ‘Gonkar Gyatso – Reclining Buddha’. 4 Abu Ghraib was the chief prison in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s regime, and became notorious as the site of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military personnel after its takeover by US forces in 2003. First reported in 2004, these now infamous acts of physical and psychological torture were committed by members of the 372nd Military Police Company, with photographs taken by the perpetrators and subsequently circulated by the media.