| THE RIVERSIDE MUSEUM COLLECTION OF TIBETAN ART -- 5 These works have a basic frontality, a full face, which seems to have just turned. The subjects ranged from Buddhas in paradise, Taras, Bodhisattvas, to demons and teachers. Many of the paintings have a structure which is built on a near, but off, symmetrical basis. One might appear in a certain pattern. In the central position is the main figure. To his north, over him, but technically at his back, would be his "virtue-excellence" emanation, to his right would be the body emanation, to his left, speech, to the bottom-front, mind. At the four intermediary quarters could be karma (environmental circumstance) emanations, black and fierce. There is a problem of dating which arises out of the strict iconographic rules. Two similar pictures might have been painted hundreds of years apart. To compound this confusion, the artist often moved from monastery to monastery, working in different parts of Tibet. They learned from each other and then moved on. This tended further to blur distinctions. There are a number of visual events which occur in these works. The first element is line whose basic nature is all encompassing and fluid. It gives the form to things and usually is that element first fixed in the work by the artist. Its fluidity relates to a concept of the constant flux of the world. Its encompassing relates to that which contains all colors and form in a temporary state. This state changes in the works as persons watch it. It is partially a matter of double images, but also the effect of the colors on our eyes. The harshness grows softer after a length of time involved in observation. This is the physical response of after-images. The artists were aware of this and used it. The result is that as viewers watch the work, "new" images appear that are hardly possible to codify. Edges demand attention and melt from one form into another. This is sometimes read as confusion. Revealed are trees filling the entire rectangle, or screaming terrors roaring in another time. The painting does not stay still, though nothing ostensibly changes. Much of this is done by the eye wandering in the work under direction. Thus came a unique contribution of individual artists of merit. Despite the tight hold of the icon on their "first" stated painting, here is that which is added through their "re-living" of the vision of ancient saints. Sometimes the painter repeats "ideas" in an order of progressive difficulty. Notice the one detail that reveals a rock mountain, which "rises" to an offering dish, and again goes up to two hands in a symbolic gesture. Follow this to a serene, yet intense face. They all relate to the same basic idea, showing how it would appear in different states. This is done in the treatment of the paint itself. The so-called rock appears dense, solid and dark, while colors are lightened in the radiance of the face. It has the substance equal to the face of the mountain below, but it is full of light. Another element is the ability to have the observer turn things inside out in his participation with this painting. That lowest form of rock is so hemmed in by clouds that for a moment it is difficult to discern whether it is concave or convex. First, it is a mountain, bulging out. Then, as eyes take in other available painted clues, it is a grotto with a waterfall falling through it. Then, it is a mountain again. It pulses in and out, moving constantly and changing through the physical devices of the artist. Transfer attention to the Bodhisattva's hands or face, and realize what is there as well. Become aware of the reality and a method for attaining it. In studying that face a greater understanding can be reached of what is meant by the oriental reference to "void." It is an "everythingness." It is not a "nothingness." Though in evidence in Tibetan art, Indian and Chinese influences move through various points with it, to reveal that breath of inspiration that is particularly Tibetan. These unblended influences are hinted at only in the fringes of this immensity of ferociousness. This is not a patchwork, but an audacious transformation of the images of neighboring cultures. Here the influences can still be recognized but they are held captive without a self-consciousness of national ego. "Self" and "other" become interchangeable in Tibet. Their forms laugh at this labeling: it is all the same body. The results make something which is a "total" and which opens to reveal a new being. This contains all the rest, without destroying them, but yet destroying all old contexts. So-called contradictions are joined together by understanding the underlying unity of opposites. Both were illusions, but in joining them a joy is realized akin to the play of Shakta-Shakti, Yab-Yum (father-mother), that allows the universe to continue to be re-born. Thus, this is a world of its own. There are horrifying elements and gentle loving ones side by side. It inspires awe and sometimes terror. The wind blows up a circle of flames to envelop the eye. It burns errors, taking you "out-in" and the flames are flowers of air. |
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 Aum Mani Padme Hum
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