Dorje Shugden goes ARTSy

[dsiluvu]

Hi Guys,

Just want to share an exhibition a friend of mine Never2501, a street artist, had an art exhibition called "Vajrapani" Bologna Solo Show Coverage. His new solo show in Bologna at Elastico Gallery. Featuring different techniques, the Italian painter presented a new series of work including his signature wavy psychedelic lines imagery.

On display was also a mural series of "White on White" and a brilliant installation of paintings on PVC. BUT what I find amazing and superbly brilliant and clever of him is how he has introduced DORJE SHUGDEN to the world in directly through his amazing creative art work!!! I love it so much that he is attracting a whole new crowd and he has been travelling all around the world exhibiting his work.... imagine how many people he is planting the seeds of Dorje Shugden/Manjushri in them... wow! I really rejoice in his creativity... gives me inspiration to think of more creative funky ways to spread Dorje Shugden Take a look at his work here http://www.streetartnews.net/2013/01/never2501-vajrapani-bologna-solo-show.html

Here are some visual treat and blessings....

[Big Uncle]

Dsiluvu,
Wow! That's very interesting and one of the more unusual ways of rendering Dorje Shugden in a new style, that's never been done before. This style will most likely not go well with conservatives but then again, Dorje Shugden had never really gone down well with purists anyway. I love the artwork. Is there more such prints of his? I love the style and did you influence the artist to consider Dorje Shugden as a subject matter?

Anyhow, I think its great work and I do hope that more and more artist would consider doing the same representation in their own media and style. It would be fascinating to see Dorje Shugden rendered in different ways. Now, another style that would most interesting is if it was rendered in Renaissance style. That would be a sight to behold.

Imagine a DS Mandala rendered in this style... That would so cool!

[DharmaSpace]

Manjushri/Dorje Shudgen promotes creativity for the practitioners. If the artists has real love and devotion to Dorje Shugden he will come out with amazing and artistic works featuring our protector.

This is a real treat thank you dsiluvu.

[samayakeeper]

Great thinking, great innovation, great art, great artist!

I wonder who will be the great artist who will paint a really huge Dorje Shugden thangka and unfurl it at the Monlam Festival? And I wonder when?

[DharmaDefender]

Great thinking, great innovation, great art, great artist!

I wonder who will be the great artist who will paint a really huge Dorje Shugden thangka and unfurl it at the Monlam Festival? And I wonder when?

Never mind who the artist is hahaha what I wanna know is if we can get a copy! 

[hope rainbow]

This a great artist indeed, he has full control of his skill and even makes spills candidly looking like spills but in fact part of the overall composition, total control.
There is a discipline coming through, there is a sense of retinue also, great work!

I do wonder if the introduction of the image of DS is coincidental or of it is a deliberate move to bring DS imagery to his world?
Then of ourse, if it is not intentional, we can ask if this de-sacralization is a good thing? I wonder...

[dondrup]

It cannot be praised enough!  Never2501’s signature wavy psychedelic lines imagery of Dorje Shugden is simply beautiful, creative and modern.  He is very smart and skillful to incorporate Dorje Shugden as part of his "Vajrapani" Bologna Solo Show Coverage art exhibition. Many art enthusiasts and collectors will receive blessing from Dorje Shugden when they view the paintings!   Imagine this Dorje Shugden image gets circulated through the internet and becomes viral!  Many will plant seed of enlightenment in their minds upon seeing the image. Great Work Never2501!

[Positive Change]

Here is a very interesting read on Religious Influence on Art:

http://www.edwardcarpenterforum.org/web-books/the-religious-influence-of-art/page-5.html

Here are some extracts from this article:

"In trying to estimate the influence of Art or its importance in the service of Religion, we seem to assume that Art has at any rate some relation to Religion. Yet this is, at the outset, a proposition which many would decline to accept. The general position of Art is indeed from its very nature extremely difficult to determine. If it is true, as many perhaps would maintain, that it deals with or unites two seemingly opposed ideas, the spiritual and the material, it seems likely enough that, on one side, people would incline to treat its influence as nothing but a more or less refined impression on the sensual nerves; or, on the other hand, would be content to remove it from everyday life into a mere sentiment ‘vague as all unsweet' easily mistaken for true religious feeling."

"Whatever then be the real nature of this mystery of Art, whether its existence be merely fanciful or whether it be founded on all truth, I say that, in that point, Art does bring us into contact with Religion. It is essentially opposed to a mere so-called Positivism, which really rejoices in negatives; it is essentially opposed to a mere worldly spirit. The true artist, or any who truly rejoice in Art, cannot be worldly; that is to say, with them the interests of ordinary life have bowed before the indescribable sense of something invisible."

"But I think that there are other, and more direct, ways in which Art comes into contact with Religion. If beauty in Art does excite in us anything more than a mere sensual pleasure, if in fact it provokes in the mind trains of thought and emotion, dimly enough perhaps realised yet sufficient to hold us with a strange power, it must be because the laws of material nature, by means of which the artistic spirit is ex­pressed, are in some sort of correspondence with the invisible world of thought and feeling, and so serve to wake into action that spiritual world within us."

Why I pointed this out is because, art does play an important role in the spread of religion through the ages. It is a form of recall (recollection), a form of imagery that has stood the test of time, and also a form of "communication" and a point of conversation so to speak!

[brian]

Fantastic stuff! Am so ever glad to hear this! Imagine the amount of people that your friend have created for visitors when they see this lovely painting of Lord Dorje Shugden! I cannot express my complete awe on this masterpiece! This is great to know! Thank you for sharing!

[lotus1]

Wow, this is so beautiful! It is so creative and brilliant of him to introduce Dorje Shugden to the world.

Just like the earlier drawing of Dorje Shugden in nathang style (http://www.dorjeshugden.com/downloads/images/the-five-families-of-dorje-shugden-in-nathang-style/), this drawing is another way of creating awareness for Dorje Shugden. By seeing the enlightened Dorje Shugden, it will also bless all beings who see it.

Rejoice! Hope more artists will follow them to draw Dorje Shugden in their work! 

[Benny]

Kudos to the artist and the person who inspired him .Great idea and very innovative , I must say that this style is very attractive and simply begs the attention of the beholder.

This is precisely the idea , to draw the attention of the beholder to ask more about Dorje Shugden to satisfy his curiosity. This work of art will definitely plant seeds in countless spectators. I rejoice for his work and motivation , may all who behold this artistic work be blessed by this magnificent protector whose time has come . Thank you for sharing and keep up the good work .
 

[Tenzin Gyatso]

Why not create art on an enlightened being like Shakyamuni the Prince of Peace? Why make artwork of a known established demon? 

[beggar]

Why not create art on an enlightened being like Shakyamuni the Prince of Peace?

Indeed, WHY NOT!

And I would rejoice happily for anyone who did create beautiful art on Shakyamuni. Or Tara. Or Chenrezig. Or Amitabha. Or Manjushri. Or any of the millions of enlightened beings, lamas and mahasiddhas out there in our inifite universe.

Just as Shakyamuni taught 84,000 ways to enlightenment, there are also just as many, (if not more) emanations of the Buddhas to help us, according to our various dispositions, minds, affinities, karmas, interests, or even aesthetic preferences! So while Shakyamuni is splendid and faultless, not everyone may be attracted or feel any great affinity with him (not that they dislike him, but they just feel no attraction to practice or enquire further).

And so - the many, many more emanations, methods, ways and practices that will resonate with different people.

We are not saying Dorje Shugden is the only way here. We are saying he is one way, and a very powerful one at that. Art, dance and methods like this painting are just one of an infinite number of ways for people to gain powerful blessed imprints, to open up to a successful spiritual practice to flourish now or at a later time. You could like it, or you could not like it - it's okay either way! But please respect the fact that there ARE people out there who might like it and thereby be led into deeper practice from that.

[Ensapa]

Ooh this is interesting indeed. Dorje Shugden art! You dont hear much religious artists these days, as most would be more interested to express themselves rather than their faith to a particular religion or deity. So I find this artwork a very nice surprise indeed because even the mere silhouette of Dorje Shugden can plant deep imprints into the minds of people and create the causes for them to encounter the Dharma in their future lives, or later in life. I like the zebra stripe motive as it adds an interesting dimension to the Dorje Shugden silhouette. I wonder who is the artist and where is he from and how did he get the inspiration to make Dorje Shugden art? is he a student of a Dorje Shugden Lama?

[Rihanna]

Ooh this is interesting indeed. Dorje Shugden art! You dont hear much religious artists these days, as most would be more interested to express themselves rather than their faith to a particular religion or deity. So I find this artwork a very nice surprise indeed because even the mere silhouette of Dorje Shugden can plant deep imprints into the minds of people and create the causes for them to encounter the Dharma in their future lives, or later in life. I like the zebra stripe motive as it adds an interesting dimension to the Dorje Shugden silhouette. I wonder who is the artist and where is he from and how did he get the inspiration to make Dorje Shugden art? is he a student of a Dorje Shugden Lama?

Given that the art show is in Bologna which is in Italy, I would ASSUME that he is a student of Gangchen Rinpoche. After all, Gangchen Rinpoche does have many students who are inclined towards art.

What I find nice about this picture is that it brings Dorje Shugden into the mainstream, and not something secret or esoteric. I know that in old Tibet, the Protector practice was meant to be kept secret but nowadays, doing that means you have something to hide and that usually implies the thing is bad. So by bringing Dorje Shugden out into the open like this, I think it goes a long way towards making his wrathful image acceptable.