Search for spirituality

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Zhao Yao with his art works

Abstract art and spirituality may not make an easy combination, but conceptualising them in one project is much more radical for an artist from China.

Thirty-year-old Zhao Yao, who is holding his first solo exhibition in London, uses simple geometric patterns from brain-teaser puzzles for children and fuses them with huge black and white photographic backdrops of Tibet to create a spiritual level for a mundane object. Zhao, who is one of the foremost artists linked to the Beijing Commune art movement, painted on denim — a material recognised for its durability. And, he went to the Lho Meil Monastery of the 9th Chakme Rinpoche, head of Nyedo Kagyuk lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and got his paintings blessed by the Rinpoche. Describing his decision to give a religious aspect to his art, Zhao says, talking through an interpreter, “The starting point was not particularly Buddhist or religious. It was a natural direction of growth upon the work done before.”
“The aim was to evaluate people’s perception of art and take its value compared to even religion,” the Beijing resident adds. He took the photographs of his journey to the remotest part of Tibet and the pictures of the landscapes have also been presented in albums at edges of traditional Buddhist straw mats for visitors. “The simple shapes of abstract puzzle figures and the embedded spirituality give a depth to the exhibition that is unique,” Zhao says, “It is very dangerous if people become accustomed to a way of understanding things, whether it is religion or art.”
Looking at the shape of the geometric patterns, they almost are meaningless, explains Zhao, especially for people accustomed to seeing them in children’s practise books. The aim, he says, is also to confuse people so that they don’t know whether to approach the works with a religious understanding or just as modern art.
The link with the Tibetan Buddhism, Zhao explains, was not a controversial move. “It was more a natural understanding of the issue and was not aimed at the creating a controversy,” says Zhao. He says that the Chinese government no longer regards abstract, contemporary art as a “challenge to authority.”
The challenge for the contemporary artists of his generation is to look for themes, as the struggle against authority is no longer the main motif of the work.