Gonkar Gyatso in his studio. Courtesy of the artist.
The Tibet Himalaya Initiative at CU-Boulder is hosting Gonkar Gyatso, widely acknowledged as the father of contemporary Tibetan art, and acclaimed Tibetan poet and film director Jangbu for Tibetan Arts Week, April 4-10.
Born in Lhasa, educated in mainland China, and resident of the UK, contemporary artist Gonkar Gyatso reflects the dynamics—and pressures—of modern Tibetan life. His Buddha images, hollowed of traditional iconography and filled instead with pop-art stickers, have become iconic commentaries on the internationalization and commodification of Tibetan Buddhism.
Gonkar Gyatso's Buddha images, hollowed of traditional iconography and filled instead with pop-art stickers, have become iconic commentaries on the internationalization and commodification of Tibetan Buddhism."These and his other mixed-media works disrupt traditional Tibetan Buddhist art, reflecting influences ranging from Kandinsky to Cubism. Controversial to some, Gonkar’s works raise issues of identity performance, cultural expectations, and displacement and exile. Shown worldwide, his work was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2014 exhibit “Tibet and India: Buddhist Traditions and Transformation.”
Gonkar Gyatso’s public lecture, “Buddha in the Bathroom: Appropriation and Pop Culture in Contemporary Tibetan Art” will be held on Tuesday, April 5, in Hale 270 at the University of Colorado Boulder. A reception precedes the talk at 6 p.m., and the lecture begins at 6:30. Admission is free.
At noon on Wednesday, April 6, the Asian Art Association is hosting his lecture “From Ink to Stickers: Contemporary Tibetan Artist Gonkar Gyatso” at the Denver Art Museum, in the Lower Level of the North Building. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., and tickets can be purchased through the Asian Art Association website (http://www.asianartassociation.org/).
Tibetan Arts Week also includes a film screening and poetry reading by Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang, known widely by his pen name Jangbu. Jangbu is a leading Tibetan poet whose writing is heralded as experimental, sophisticated, courageous, and influenced by classical Tibetan poetry and magical realism. In recent years, he has taken up directing documentary films, including Kokonor (2008) and Yartsa Rinpoche (2014).
On Thursday, April 7, Jangbu will show and discuss his work-in-progress, the film Voices of the Stone, which concerns mining in Central Tibet, followed by Q&A. The film will screen at 6:30 p.m. in Humanities 135 on the CU-Boulder campus and is free and open to the public.
Jangbu will also read selected poems from his collection, The Nine-Eyed Agate (2010), at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 8.
Over that weekend, Gonkar will conduct his first-ever performance, “a physical manifestation of Gonkar’s studio practice,” scheduled at the Boulder Creative Collective’s new warehouse space, just off the Boulder Creek Path. His progressive installation offers a firsthand look into the creative process of one of the world’s foremost contemporary artists.
The public is welcome to a sneak preview of the installation in process between 2-5 p.m. on Friday. On Sunday, April 10, the public is invited to celebrate the installation’s unveiling by sharing “Sweet Tea with Gonkar Gyatso” beginning at 2 p.m. through 5 p.m.
Boulder Creative Collective is at 2500 47th St., Unit #10, between Valmont and Pearl. Signs will point the way for cyclists and motorists alike to this new alternative-arts space, formerly the home of 303 Vodka.
Tibetan Arts Week is organized by the newly launched Tibet Himalaya Initiative at CU-Boulder and co-sponsored by CU-Boulder’s Center for Asian Studies.
Visit www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative and www.colorado.edu/cas to learn more. Further inquiries can be directed to Ariana Maki at (ariana.maki@colorado.edu).
March 24, 2016