Tsering Nyandak with Yak Tsetan – Buddhas
4 digital prints, each 80 x 60 cm
2006

Whereas thangkas occupied a central place in the visual culture of pre-20th century Tibet, in today’s globalised sites this position of primacy has been co-opted by advertising. Nyandak’s billboard design reinstates the Buddha into contemporary visual prominence, drawing upon thangka’s visual technologies. The four part poster series by Nyandak and Tsetan suggest ambiguous modern mudras, perhaps of the grasp of a wrathful deity or the human clawing at acquisitions, perhaps the turning of the wheel of dharma or an ‘OK’. The startlingly graphic quadrant, with half a Buddha’s head swirling with blue and green against a bright red field, combines precision (a hallmark of both thangka and computer technology) and the natural or random appearance of water or weather. The serial use of the black and white line silhouette suggests a form which may be filled with any content we wish.

text by by Leigh Miller-Sangster

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