Money Tree #1

     Artist: Gade, Lhasa, Tibet
     Date: 2010
     Media: Mixed media, acrylic & natural pigments on cotton canvas
     Size: 6' 7" x 4' 5"

Born in Lhasa, Tibet, in the early 70s, contemporary artist Gade combines a fascination with the paraphernalia of American culture with traditional Thangka (religious scrolls that were commonly rolled up and transported between monasteries - ‘thang’ meaning ‘flat’ and ‘ka’, ‘painting’ in Tibetian) painting techniques to create works that mirror the rapidly shifting religious and political life of Tibet.

Gade graduated from the School of Fine Arts, Tibet University, Lhasa in 1991 with a degree in Traditional Chinese Realistic Painting. He is a founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists’ Guild, and is now a lecturer in the School of Fine Arts, Tibet University.

"My generation has grown up with Thanka painting, martial arts, Hollywood movies, Mickey Mouse, Charlie Chaplin, Rock n' Roll and McDonalds. We still don't know where the spiritual homeland is - New York, Beijing or Lhasa. We wear Jeans and T-shirts and when we drink a Budweiser it is only occasionally that we talk about "Buddhahood". 
More recently my work has filled with more ironic elements, this is not my way to criticize anything, just an effort to give reality a more authentic appearance. When I am not pretending to represent deep philosophical and religious concepts I start painting more freely and in a more relaxed way, and any soul or object can find its own place in one of my paintings and by doing so I found again the happiness I felt in my childhood while drawing cartoons." 

- Lhasa 2003