Visionary Transformation of an Insight 2
Zheng Guogu
郑国谷
Production date
2012
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
198.5 x 138 cm
Notes
Visionary Transformation of an Insight 2 (2012) reveals Zheng Guogu’s more recent re-examination of Buddhist and Daoist philosophy and iconography. This series of paintings was inspired by Tibetan Buddhist Thangka paintings, here broken up into jigsaw-like shapes as if by an explosion of energy. Zheng Guogu studied the different schools and styles of thangka painting, intrigued by their function as a path to enlightenment, and a means of detaching from the secular twenty-first century world. In relation to his calligraphy works with the Yangjiang Group, Zheng has spoken of the crucial importance of ‘qi’, meaning not just the breath, but the essential spirit or energy of the artist. This notion of the energy of the universe, flowing within and between the artist and his painting, are seen here also, although, with a typically ironic twist, Zheng has outsourced the making process by commissioning a painter to produce them, after he designed the light, shadow and colour using computer software. The works layer different digitally rendered images from religious pictures, projected and then painted, in a transference of light from computer screen to canvas – a transformation that for Zheng represents the Buddhist concept of transience.
Accession number
2016.159