Queensland Art Gallery - Queensland Government

Gonkar Gyatso
Funky Buddhas 2009
Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatso’s Funky Buddhas is a large-scale installation
featuring a display of cast white seated Buddha sculptures. Set in a semicircle,
the arrangement of the Buddhas recalls the environment of temple sculpture
and highlights Gyatso’s interest in Buddhist iconography.
Children are invited by the artist to apply a set of readymade ‘puffy’ stickers
to the white surfaces of the Buddha sculptures. The ubiquitous sticker is a
signature feature of Gyatso’s practice. The sticker designs — as specified by the
artist — feature a range of popular and familiar subjects for children, ranging
from toys and symbols of love and happiness to milkshakes, fruits and pets.
Over the course of the exhibition, the stickers will eventually cover the
sculptures’ surfaces, highlighting the visual interplay of the Buddhas with the
bright, colourful imagery of the stickers, and referencing the artist’s interest
in the ways that contemporary culture continually absorbs new images and
commodifies ideas.
Ho Tzu Nyen
H the Happy Robot 2009
H is a happy robot who was born in a cardboard factory. We follow the journey
of his life as he undergoes education and discovers the meaning of life, death
and life after death. All that remains is a disk containing his memories — which
are in the form of a film. Perhaps all that remains is art.
— Ho Tzu Nyen
Artist and filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen premieres his new film H the Happy Robot
in Kids’ APT. The film is a modern fable about the nature of technology,
and is centred on the life story of a cardboard robot called H, who lives in
an imaginary Singapore. The film is screened in a theatre resembling an
oversized cardboard box, inviting children to join H in his world.
RS
KR
Gonkar Gyatso
Tibet/United Kingdom b.1961
Childrens’ workshop, Funky Buddhas 2009, Gallery of
Modern Art
Commissioned for APT6 / Courtesy: The artist /
Photograph: Katie Bennett
Ho Tzu Nyen
Singapore b.1976
H the Happy Robot (stills) 2009
High-definition digital video, single channel, colour,
sound, 6:42 minutes, ed. of 3 / Commissioned for APT6 /
Supported by the National Arts Council and Singapore Film
Commission / Images courtesy: The artist and Tzulogical Films
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