“Art in Dialogue” is a regular series that asks Prapañca contributors and editors to respond to a provocative work of art with an observation, question, or creative insight.
Gade
mandala series: artifacts, tools and objects
曼陀罗系列之之器物
2008
mixed media on canvas
250 x 100 cm – 98 ½ x 39 3/8 in
Tibetan-born artist and New York resident, Gade, is well known for merging traditional Tibetan painting with the imperfections of modern consumer culture and political pop art. (Images from his Five New Buddhas are featured on our cover.) In Buddhist mandalas such as the one shown here, critic Ian Findlay-Brown praises the way Gade provokes the contemporary viewer while managing to retain the “rough, highly textured surface” and “brooding reddish browns and ochers” of sacred Tibetan art forms. Click the image to see the full trio of new mandalas. All images courtesy of Rossi & Rossi Gallery.
Gade: “The Buddhist gods are wise: they know precisely why I do what I do. The responsibility of the artist goes beyond creating beautiful things. I just say what I believe.” Art Knowledge News
Jack Butler: “I notice that [Gade’s] mandala unites objects of spiritual devotion with objects from everyday life. This reminds me, as I’ve observed, that we do not have two lives, one for the holy stuff and one for the mundane stuff. We have one life. If there is anything holy about it, that holiness has to coexist with the ordinariness of existence.”
Mushim: “Gade’s mandala seduces the eye in search of transcendent Buddhist signs and symbols, then shocks and challenges [with] images of guns, toilet paper, disposable beverage containers, and more. The simultaneity of nirvana and samsara, and the deadly serious nature of our violent and environmentally-threatened present, are presented with impeccable technique and clarity of vision.”
Doug McLean: “When seeing this image, the first thing that came to mind was that it reminds me of the Yogacara Buddhist way of breaking down the mind into conscious and unconscious, with the ego-self, the ‘manas’ in Sanskrit existing as part of the unconscious. Being the ‘darker’ half, it reminds me that while I can’t perceive my own ego-self, it underlies my behavior nevertheless.”
Qiana Whitted: “I’m intrigued by the title of Gade’s mandala: Artifacts, Tools and Objects. Archeologists study artifacts to understand how mankind creates meaning and organizes material existence, yet in science and technology, artifacts are errors of perception. So is it just me or does the distressed surface of Gade’s painting make the TV screen look like a world map?”
Scott Mitchell: “The lower half of the mandala assembles a collection of ritual objects as well as Buddhist symbols, and indeed a mandala itself is meant to represent sacred space. While ordinarily we populate such spaces with sacred objects, Gade has populated his with both the usual suspects — a lotus flower, a sacred vase — and everyday objects. Is there some ritual significance, something sacred, then, about video game controllers and televisions? Why do we elevate some objects to ritual or sacred status and not others?”