Tibetan
shares his spiritual arts
Friday
February 24, 2006
SAY Si stint workshop
and exhibit are
all part
of his busy S.A visit.
By, Dan R. Goddard
Express-News
staff writer
With
his cowboy's boots, flat brim hat and wispy soul patch, Rabkar Wangchuk looks
more like a hip Tenajo musician than a Tibetan artist.
Which may explain why
he landed at this country at the Chicago airport, people kept trying to talk him
in Spanish. "I couldn't understand a thing they are saying," Wangchuk
said in softly accented English. " I have been wanting to show my work in
U.S, and every one kept telling to go to New York. But I think it better for me
to share this spiritual art here with San Antonio. My impression is that this
is a community where people love art ".
The lead visual-art instructor
at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, Wangchuk is
visiting San Antonio at the invitation of a photographer Deborah Keller-Rihn.
She met him through his brother when she attended a workshop on Tibetan art in
Boulder, Colo. Wangchuk has spent most of February SAY Si student constructing
a stupa, a hand carved wooden spiritual monument, which will be featured in SAY
Si exhibit in April.
He is set to give a workshop on the construction
of a sand mandala from 1 to 3pm, Wednesday in the Marion hall Ballroom at the
University of the Incarnate Word.
A painter who has been described as
the Salvador Dali of the Tibetan art, Wangchuk is also collaborating with Keller-Rihn
on an exhibit. "Image of universal love and the 21 Aspects of Tara,"
that is scheduled to open March 8 at Bihl Haus Arts in honor of International
Women's Day.
"We're both very interested in Tara, the Buddhist goddess
of compassion," Keller Rihn said. She has been working on a series of photograph,
using her female friends a models and manipulating the images on a computer to
illustrate the various traits of multi armed goddess.
Much beloved by
Tibetans who say prayers and mantras to her, Tara, according to legend, was a
real woman before she became goddess. When she took her bodhisattva vows to attain
enlightenment, the monks advised her to pray for a male incarnation so that she
could be of greater benefit to the mortals.
Distressed by the narrow-minded
views of the monk, Tara replied that "man" and "women" are
only categories created by perverse minds and vowed to benefit human kind by appearing
in female form. Through her photographic interpretation, Keller-Rihn explores
the depth and breath of feminine psyche.
Wangchuk's photo combines the
photo realistic images of figures such as Dalai Lama with mystical landscapes
and spiritual symbols. " My work is little bit out of the custom," he
said." My work is little bit of modern art combined with traditional Tibetan
art. I have shown my work in galleries in Europe and people really like it. My
feeling is that my work is a way of spreading peace and happiness."
An
accomplished artist with the equivalent of a master of fine arts form Gyudmed
Tantric University in India, he spend more than 20 years, beginning at the age
of 7 as a monk in monastery. He learned traditional art form such as thangka painting
on silk, sand mandala, wood sculptures and butter sculptures before leaving the
monastery to teach at Tibetan institute.
"The younger generation of Tibetan
are totally in tune with modern times," Wangchuk said. "The traditional
form of art are still being taught, but the traditional techniques are being combined
with the modern approaches. How do you make peace and happiness? I don't know
how except as an artist.
" When you see a beautiful work of art,
it touches your heart. This love comes from the heart of artist. This is the healing
touch of Tibetan artist. If you can touch the heart, you can find peace and happiness."
In addition to the paintings and photographs at Bihl Haus Arts, Wangchuk plans
to create prayer flag, two mandala and offerings made of clay.
For more information about Rabkar Wamghuk's resident in San Antonio, Contact Deborah Keller Rihn at Magical Realism Studios, Blue Star Arts Complex, (210) 287 -8706 kellerrihn@earthlink.net.
dgoddard@express.news.net
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