Rossi & Rossi are delighted to announce Mountains and Rivers, a solo presentation by the Tibetan artist Gade.
The exhibition will feature paintings and relief sculptures as well as works in cloisonné and on paper, including a group specially commissioned for this year’s Art Hong Kong. One of a small but influential body of Tibetan-born artists working in Lhasa, Gade has established himself at the forefront of Tibet’s vibrant art world. Exhibited internationally, he is one of Asia’s leading artists. He writes, ‘I am bored with the ‘Shangri-la’ that Tibetan art has depicted. I want to reveal my true life, no matter how silly or trivial it is.’
Using his meticulous technique, learnt through his studies of traditional Tibetan art, and combining images of Tibetan culture and Western pop culture, Gade achieves a synthesis that references the rich tradition of his country as well as the forces of globalization to which it is subject: evocative mountain and river landscapes are peopled by cartoon characters and advertising mascots; apparently ancient sculptures are on close inspection revealed as elaborately crafted jokes; in his Black Scripture Paintings, contemporary figures are cut into archaic style paintings based on the black scriptures of the fifth incarnation of the Dalai Lama. ‘Legend says the scriptures record his dream. I've created scriptures on an enlarged scale and cut my own dream into them. My dream however, is destined to be mundane, a dream full of materialistic pursuits.’ His works break free from the confines of the classically serene Tibetan art to convey a strong sense of individuality masking more serious concerns.
In The Enchantress, a sexually charged yet anonymous silhouette of a woman, familiar from billboards and magazines, represents Tibet. Amongst her mountains and tumbling clouds, mythic heroes and cultural icons from East and West emerge in random, unexpected groupings. Batman rides an elephant, Superman takes to the sky leaving the world of Kung Fu Panda, and animated french fries frolic with hot dogs. The Enchantress seems to stride forward but is locked in her circle of white, caught like a naked dancer in the sudden flare of a camera’s flash. She plays with the exotic impressions of Tibet, past and present, in the Western popular imagination.
In his wood sculptures and cloisonné works, Gade presents a pantheon of five culturally freighted icons: Batman, Ronald McDonald, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, and the Mao suit. Each occupies the centre of the work. Seated crossed-legged in the traditional pose of the Buddha or a lama, they make reference to both the treasured antique and the throwaway souvenir and reveal a rootless culture, perhaps fatally severed from the primal religious connections that has moulded it over hundreds of years. However, as his country opens to the world, Gade stands somewhat apart from the tides of change, writing, ‘Ultimately, I hope that through my exhibitions people will change their preconceptions about Tibet. I am neither criticizing nor praising, I merely want to document my life.’
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Gade was born May 1971 in Lhasa, Tibet. He graduated from the Art Department of Tibet University, where he later went on to teach. In 1992 he began his studies of Chinese painting and art history at the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, which saw him return to traditional Tibetan painting techniques in his work whilst using images exported by Western popular culture. He is a founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists’ Guild; has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows internationally, and co-curated the ground-breaking Scorching Sun of Tibet exhibition at the Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing - the first museum show of Tibetan contemporary art in China. His artworks are featured in private and public collections around the world including the National Art Museum of China, the World Museum Liverpool and The White Rabbit Foundation, Australia. Currently he lives and works in Lhasa and Beijing.
