What's Bebo doing on Buddha's chin?

At a Colaba gallery, Bollywood stars make up a Buddha and the route of the New York tube finds space inside his feetu00a0-- all in the works of four contemporary Tibetan artists who are exploring new forms of expression outside of classical Tibetan art
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There is a scene in the Brad Pitt-starrer Seven Years in Tibet, where Pitt, who plays Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, is tasked with the construction of a theatre for the young Dalai Lama. But when work starts, there is trouble. Tibetan construction workers refuse to work. They scold Pitt, pointing to earthworms, "This could be your mother. No more hurting."

As the famous Tibetan writer Jamyang Norbhu wrote of that sequence in the Hollywood blockbuster, "It was like Saturday Night Live. Every Tibetan I know shudders over that scene."



Beyond The Mandala, an art exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art is in many ways a reaction to that kind of romanticisation of Tibet. The view that refuses to see Tibet as anything else but the mythical Shangri-la, which with its mystic chants and spiritualism can save the materialistic West.

And the exhibition is much more. It is an introspective look at Tibetan society which places religion over everything else. It is an expression that seeks to find its own path in an art world that considers Tibetan art no more than Mandalas and thangkas.u00a0

Here, the works of Gade, Tenzing Rigdol, Tsherin Sherpa and Palden Weinreb accompany a Buddha composed of Bollywood stars (Bollywood Buddha). There's another work of his feet, but with the route of the New York tube inside (My Exilic Experience). These reflect the artist's experiences in India and later, New York.

One painting captures the Hevajra deity (12 Views Of Kye Dor). But it is no ordinary rendition. It has been fragmented into 12 pieces. To Tibetans, this could be sacrilege, but as artist Tsherin Sherpa explains, "It makes a reference to Tibetans in exile and their situation, separated from their homeland and dispersed over many different parts of the world. Each individual or group brings parts of their tradition and culture along and still continues to preserve them."

Sherpa studied traditional Tibetan thangka painting in Nepal. Later, he travelled to Taiwan and is now based in the US. His work expresses contemporary concerns using a variety of techniques including traditional thangka painting. In another of his works (untitled), chopped hands in various mudras emerge from the backdrop of the Buddha. According to Sherpa, the Mudras (gestures of communication) of the deities are like the muted voices of a faceless Buddha.

Gade, who among the artists is the only one based in Lhasa, has two paintings in the exhibition. From a distance, Black Scriptures looks a lot like a thangka that has been painted black. Only when you move closer do you see detailsu00a0-- Buddha dressed in a Mao suit, Mickey Mouse skulls breathing fire (much like deities in traditional thangkas do), and images of the communist sickle against Tibetan religious objects. There is even a burger placed below the Buddha and Mickey Mouse.

It is perhaps a more appropriate reflection of modern Lhasa; one that is not Shangri-la but a modern city with McDonald outlets, and where Mickey Mouse is a cultural icon. According to Gade, in the painting, "the imagery of traditional ritual objects and offerings has been replaced with contemporary products. It is also about the changing beliefs of people."

The first traces of contemporary Tibetan art were seen with monk and traveller Gendun Chophel (1903-1951). Among few of his illustrations that survive today are portraitures of photographic realism, which capture in black and white shades aristocrats and lamas; a far cry from the conventional painting style.

His student and friend, Amdo Jampa (1911-2002), the first Tibetan to study art in China, carried on his legacy. His murals painted in the early 1950s inside the Norbu Lingka, the Dalai Lama's summer palace, were revolutionaryu00a0-- they combined the traditional Tibetan style of painting with photo-realist portraits.

Otherwise, very little of contemporary Tibetan art has emerged over the years. It is only now, with tumultuous changes within Tibetan society, both inside and outside Tibet, that these changes are being reflected in their works.

Sherpa explained to Pia Goswamy of Volte Gallery, his reasons for shifting to contemporary art. "When I used to paint Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, my teacher asked me to channelise compassion into myself before painting him. But after three or four such paintings, I wasn't feeling it anymore. It became mechanical. I knew I had to do something else."

Ganden, who is of mixed parentage (father is Chinese and mother, Tibetan), says, "There is a great discontinuity in contemporary Tibetan art. It is different from western art in which one generation passes its legacy to the next. The audience is more familiar with classical Tibetan art. On the other hand, contemporary Tibetan art is still almost invisible, because of the lack of connection with tradition."

At: Volte Art Gallery, 2/19, Kamal Mansions, Near Radio Club, Colaba
Call: 22041220