Gonkar Gyatso
Gonkar Gyatso in front of his work at 53rd Venice Biennale 2009.
Gonkar
Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa, Tibet. He was part of the Art Department
at Tibet University from 1985-1992, and then migrated to India. He
studied Fine Art in Beijing and London. He graduated from the Central
Institute of Nationalities in Beijing and while in England he
received a degree in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design
in 2000.
My Identity
2003
4 photographs
Each 61,5 x 78 x 3,4 cm
2003
4 photographs
Each 61,5 x 78 x 3,4 cm
My
Identity
has become one of the most recognizable works of modern Tibetan art.
It is a series of four self photographs in which Gyatso depicts
himself from four different periods in his life. In the first
photograph, Gyasto is dressed in a traditional Tibetan attire while
painting an image of Buddha. This is a representation of how a
traditional Tibetan artist would typically work. In the second
photograph, Gyatso is dressed in a Chinese communist uniform from the
Cultural Revolutionary period. He is surrounded by walls covered with
newspapers and is shown painting a picture of Mao. In
he third photograph Gyatso is dressed as a modern Tibetan refugee
artist painting another Buddhist painting. In the fourth photograph,
Gyatso depicts himself as a Tibetan refugee artist in London painting an
abstract work of art, which is a reflection of his life as it
currently is. Many scholars have written about this piece in detail and it has
become so famous that many have considered Gyasto a political artist
because of it.
Buddha@hotmail-1
2006 stickers, pencil on treated paper 28 x 20 inches | 
Buddha Sakyamuni
2008 Mixed Media Screen Print, Silk Screen varnished with silver and gold leaf on fine art paper 85 x 65 cm |
Artist Statement
"My current work comes out of a fascination with material and pop culture and a desire to bring equal attention to the mundane as well as the extraordinary, the imminent and the superfluous. These contradictions are often found in the same painting. The work can be very silly and uncanny and at the same time come out of concerns that are shaping our times. I love poking fun and fill my work with a kind of unabashed whimsy and imagination. As my own experience has been one that reflects a kind of hybridity and transformation my work also holds this quality. We are all repositories of our time and place and I think the work can not help but reveal the politics and cultures that have shaped me. In this way my work has a spatial and temporal component to them; where time and place collide into each other. While in the past I have not intentionally been overtly political, I have explored political themes. And just as the identity of my motherland, Tibet, can not be separated from religion and politics, I think my own sensibility has been shaped by the undeniable bond between the two."
- Gonkar Gyatso
Angel
2007
Stickers and pencil on treated paper
152 x 121.5cm
2007
Stickers and pencil on treated paper
152 x 121.5cm
The Shambala in Modern Times
2008
stickers, pencil, paper cut on treated paper
200 x 200 cm
2008
stickers, pencil, paper cut on treated paper
200 x 200 cm
The Shambala in Modern Times [Detail]
2008 stickers, pencil, paper cut on treated paper 200 x 200 cm | 
The Shambala in Modern Times [Detail]
2008 stickers, pencil, paper cut on treated paper 200 x 200 cm |
GOD Series IV
2009
53 x 70 cm
2009
53 x 70 cm
Gyatso is the founder of The Sweet Tea House. The Sweet Tea House is web site and gallery in London dedicated to contemporary Tibetan artists and their work. It has become quite successful displaying both traditional and modern works from a variety of Tibetan artists.
http://www.sweetteahouse.co.uk/
“The Sweet Tea House is dedicated to promoting contemporary Tibetan art and bring together artists from inside Tibet and from abroad, regardless of their political stand, situation, background, and education.”
- The Sweet Tea House
Four elements: Element 1
2009 Pencil, ink on treated paper 100 x 100 cm | 
Four elements: Element 2
2009 Pencil, ink on treated paper 100 x 100 cm |
Four elements: Element 3
2009 Pencil, ink on treated paper 100 x 100 cm | 
Four elements: Element 4
2009 Pencil, ink on treated paper 100 x 100 |
Inside Gonkar's Studio
the following images are courtesy of Rainer Hosch's Blog.
