Essay – Rooted in the Mortal Realm

Standing before these paintings, I find it impossible to apply my customary model of examination, one involving appreciation, discernment, categorization and evaluation. Not only does the content of the works bewilder, their choice of painting medium also falls beyond the two major standard categories of “ink on rice paper” and “oil on canvas.” While paintings belong to the genre of the visual arts and in general have a quiescent quality about them, these paintings are provocative, compelling one to muster all one’s energies and intellect to engage with and comprehend them.

It may be seen from a review of the history of painting in Tibet that even in the first half of the twentieth century, murals and tangkas were the two dominant genres. Although executed in the recognizably Tibetan medium of mineral pigment on cloth, the paintings in this exhibition constitute a new category unlike any kind of Tibetan painting previously known to the outside world. Distinguishable too from mainstream contemporary Chinese painting, they are not swept along by current global trends. They stand aside, akin to Tibet occupying a corner of the geographical atlas. This new category of painting, utilising the painting materials of murals and tangkas, and developed from the creative process of tangkas, stands apart and alone on the cultural atlas; tall, erect and proud, it is like the snow lotus—pure and beautiful.

No “religious belief” can be discerned directly from these paintings. It is the artists’ overwhelmingly powerful and intense focus on life, and the expression of their views on it that draw the viewer into their works. Tibet’s unique geology and harsh natural surroundings have been critical factors in shaping its people. The Tibetan people who live and breathe on the high plateaus of the snowy land possess “an innate and deep sense of respect for life; a passionate zeal for living, and a dauntless attitude towards death which they view as no different from birth” (Han Shuli). Deeply immersed in such a culture, and cleansed in their minds, the artists approach Tibetan culture like devout pilgrims gripped by passionate reverence. Their immersion in the sacred Tibetan cosmos and its culture has deep and far-reaching roots. They have established and developed a root system for their artistic souls, from which has emerged a new medium for contemporary Tibetan painting, that of mineral pigment on cloth.

By no means can these 51 works be grouped for each artist’s chosen theme and manner of expression are distinctive, yet complementary of each other. A near-death experience at seventeen has so affected Bamazaxi’s consciousness that his works are imbued with a deep gratitude for life: “Dipamkara is the magical lamp that burns perpetually, lighting the way for the people, illuminating their lives and their paths.” Li Zhibao aspires to juxtapose Buddhist deities and mortal beings in the same space, in intimate and harmonious co-existence. The trait that runs through Zhai Yuefei’s paintings is the enigmatic quality of mountains and lakes, neither human nor godly, yet decidedly mortal and full of divinity. In Zhai’s works, the dualistic allure of their humanlike and divine qualities is portrayed.

If the purpose and effect of traditional Tibetan religious art were the creation of unsurpassed heavenly realms of glorious peace and beauty to entice and encourage people to disengage from the mortal realm to pursue the realm of ultimate joy, then the aim of contemporary Tibetan painting may be said to be detachment from the idolatry of fictitious deities, and a focus on the narrative of reality and all that arises from it. In their works, these artists focus on the exploration of humanity, finding new perspectives through which to interpret the myriad faces of a real, tangible world.

Han Shuli and Yu Youxin moved to Tibet from Beijing in the early seventies and in 1982 respectively. With their background and training, they brought with them a formidable body of Chinese culture, an emphasis on individual style and an interest in aesthetics. At the same time, they threw themselves passionately into the grandeur of Tibet’s mountains and rivers, and plunged into the Tibetan way of life, so largely infused with the mystical. Having experienced and assimilated both the arts and culture of Tibet, they have produced works explosive with the fullest and most spectacular expressions.

Han Shuli has depicted the pantheon of Buddhist deities with cultivated sensitivity and aesthetic vitality. When examining Han’s works, the perception of their beauty will not suffice, for he also aspires to the “perfection” espoused in Tibetan religious doctrines. One needs to look more deeply to appreciate his symbolic narratives about the self as well as his interpretations of “realms.”

Yu Youxin explores the idea that “the Buddha had mortal feelings” and uses “humanity as foundation” as the guiding principle for his art. Consequently, his artistic renditions lack the severity of religious art, and yet are untainted by mundane preoccupations. Consummate artists in their manipulation of ink and brush, both Han Shuli  and Yu Youxin are able to transplant effortlessly and with fluid virtuosity the techniques of ink diffusion (usually only possible on Chinese rice paper) on to cloth, literally melding the misty ambience in Chinese painting with the swirling clouds over the mountains of Tibet. Important contributors to the development of contemporary Tibetan art, they have poured all their energies into it.  It may be said that thanks to their participation, dedication, guidance and leadership, contemporary Tibetan painting has grown by leaps and bounds.

In the works of Tibetan artists born in the sixties and seventies — the new generation of indigenous artists — we witness tradition as they define it, and we understand modernity as they comprehend it. Enchanted by and nostalgic for distant antiquity, Benba has assimilated murals in monasteries, the ruins of ancient cities and the mountain ranges of the Himalayas all into a space called time, resulting in grand and magnificent landscapes. Tsering Namgyai chooses to develop his ideas by focusing on a “point”, an example of which is furnished by his thoughts underlying his depiction of “sky-burial” in his work “Thanksgiving” which is composed of a group of panels.

Jimei Chilei, Dezhoin and Lhaba Tsering each portray the purest form of human emotions based on personal experience: the glory of a mother’s love; the joy emanating from blind children, and the happy memories of kite-flying in childhood. Gade and Norbu Tsering employ a method that resembles the composition of a traditional Tibetan religious painting to express their concern for the collisions between religious and secular lives, tradition and modernity.

Like the generations before them, this young generation of artists continues to pay devout attention to the value of “life and existence.” However, they do so in more pragmatic ways: in their work, life and emotions have been materialized so that we may reflect on their ruminations, the visual expressions thereof, and the hope and anticipation that linger in their works. They are fervently in search of a cultural identity, and their paintings are individual impressions of Tibetan culture as well as the embodiment of a collective cultural phenomenon.

Chen Jiazi
Curator
The Luxe Art Museum

以人为本的当代西藏画

伫立在这些画作前，我无法派用上以前那种惯性的审视角度：欣赏、识别、分类、定位，这不光是内容本身令我不知所云，其颜料材质也不在 “水墨宣纸”或“油彩帆布”两大范畴之内。绘画本来是一种“静态”的视觉艺术，但这些画作却有着相当的骚动力，调动你所有的知识潜能和精力去思维和解读。

翻开西藏绘画史，到了二十世纪上半叶仍以壁画和唐卡为两大主要类别。然而这类“布面重彩画”，既不同于外界认知的西藏绘画，又有别于中国当代绘画的整体主流，也没有跟随现代的俗流，就像西藏在地理版图上偏居一隅一样，这类从壁画及唐卡的颜料以及唐卡的制作形式发展而来的新画种，宛如在文化版图上傲立于边域的雪莲花 – 纯洁而美丽。

我们并非能直观地从这些画作中感受到一种宗教性的 “信仰”，作为引导观众意识进入作品的纽带，是画中散发出来的强烈的生命意识和观念。特有的地理构造与严峻的自然环境，使得在雪域高原生息的民族有着“与生俱来的对生命的高度崇拜、极为热忱和视死如生的大无畏”，而深受其精神濡染和净化的艺术家们又酷似朝圣者，以近似迷狂的虔诚走近神圣的自然与博深的文化，确立和发展了他们的艺术灵魂根性，形成了西藏当代布面重彩画之独特的艺术风貌。

面对来自12位画家的51幅作品，我无法将他们串联成组，各自的描绘主题与各自的表现手法炯异相趣。巴玛扎西17岁时曾有过九死一生的经历，所以他的意识、他作品充溢着感恩之情，“燃灯佛是一盏永不熄灭的神灯，照亮着人们生命的旅程”；李知宝往往将尊佛与世人和谐而亲近地安处一方天地；翟跃飞则借山湖之间非人非神、亦人亦神的灵物为主脉，描写着她们的人性与灵性。

如果说，西藏佛教艺术的万能效用就在于它可以通过艺术手法虚构天国胜境，诱惑、激发着人们脱离世间走向极乐追求的话，那么当代西藏绘画，则从虚构神像的崇拜转向现实观念的叙述，这些艺术家以“人”为本，以新的视角诠释着现实世界的众生相。

韩书力、余友心这两位自七十年代先后从北京走进西藏的艺术家，不仅带来了中原文化深厚的底蕴、个性的表述以及审美的追求，同时也满怀激情地投身到雪域的高山大川，扑向闪烁着强烈神秘色彩的现实生活。经历了文化与艺术的双向吸收和融合，他们的作品也得到最充分、最壮观的表现。

韩书力对其描绘的佛尊、金刚或菩萨像赋予了更为人文的、审美趣味十足的生命力。在他的作品中只看到 “唯美”是不够的，在寻蹈藏画教义上对“圆满”追求的同时，艺术家始终追求着对“境界”的阐释和对自身观念的象征叙述。余友心借“佛本有人情”的理念发挥其“人为本”的艺术主脉，所以他的作品少有宗教的深沉，又少染世间俗尘。两位画家同时都有着纯熟的水墨画功底，他们能将只有在宣纸上才可以完美表现的晕散技巧，淋漓尽致地展现在布面上，汉文化的空朦境界就这样地交融于喜马拉雅山云端。他们是西藏当代艺术的苦行僧、建树者，或者可以说正是由于他们的加入，由于他们的投身和引领，使西藏当代绘画的发展加快了成长脚步。

在六七十年代出生的藏画家笔下，我们看到了新生代的本土艺术家如何去解释传统，又如何去演绎现代。边巴呈现的是对远古的眷恋，将寺院壁画与宏观的古城残垣和喜马拉雅山脉熔于时光的大场面，气魄而壮观；次仁朗杰则选择“点向”述说，他的感恩组画就是借“天葬”的形为阐述自己的思维；计美赤列、德珍和拉巴次仁完全凭任自身感受表达他们最纯朴的人间情结：母爱的伟大、赋予盲童的欢乐、对风筝的快乐回忆；嘎德和罗布次仁则对准当代社会问题，在看似传统的绘画表现架构中，传达着他们对世俗与宗教、传统与现代冲撞的关注。

与祖父辈一样，这一代年轻人继续虔诚地关注“生存与生命”的价值，但他们更现实、更实在了，他们把生活和情感带入画中，让我们感觉到他们的思索，思索后的表达，表达后的期待。他们致力寻找文化身份，并用其作品代表一种集体的文化特征和个体的文化观念。

陈家紫
余欣美术馆研究员