Gonkar Gyatso's current practice combines traditional calligraphy and the iconography of Buddhist thangka with collages of colorful stickers, cut-out text and mass-media imagery, subverting typecast notions of Tibetan culture and considering the popularisation of Buddhism in the West.
Gonkar Gyatso is a London and New York based transnational artist. His youth coincided with the period of the Cultural Revolution when much art and culture was destroyed, and traditional Tibetan art forms — most of which were tied to religion — were forbidden. While studying Chinese calligraphy in Beijing, Gyatso became aware of the distinctiveness of his heritage and after graduating, moved to Dharamsala, India, where he studied traditional Tibetan thangka (scroll painting), before moving to London. Gyatso founded the Sweet Tea House in 1985, which became the first Tibetan avant-garde artists' association. Since he move to London, his works have aimed to map the shifts in identity and belonging caused by continual migration. His current practice combines traditional calligraphy and the iconography of Buddhist thangka with collages of colorful stickers, cut-out text and mass-media imagery, subverting typecast notions of Tibetan culture and considering the popularisation of Buddhism in the West.