Near and Far

Era and Donald Farnsworth,
Electric Thangka, Jacquard tapestry

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Imagine being a 14th-century monk traveling across the country. At each stop along the way a temporary temple will be set up, including all of the ritual paraphernalia and everything needed for an altar. Today we have 18-wheeler trucks for fancy road shows, but centuries ago, everything was transported on foot and by horseback.

Welcome the thangka. Originating in India, thangkas, or scroll paintings on fabric, were used by religious pilgrims when giving talks on the basics of Buddhist philosophy. Nomadic Tibetan monks adopted the thangka as an alternative to the temple fresco. Once monasteries acquired land and buildings, thangkas were hung on the walls.

Donald and Era Farnsworth are 21st-century collaborating artists who make contemporary thangkas — and at first glance their imagery looks very much like the iconography used in thangkas centuries ago. But on closer inspection, modern imagery appears: nuclear cooling towers, benzene rings, melting glaciers — often with the Buddha sitting calmly at the center. Their work is on view at Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe.

Thangkas are records of Buddhist teachings transmitted pictorially — most often through images of enlightened beings, mandalas and stupas. A thangka is used as a visualization technique during meditation. The practitioner uses the image to locate, in herself, the type of wisdom represented by the particular deity she is contemplating.

In the Farnsworth's opulent and monochromatic “Electric Thangka,” a faceless Buddha sits perfectly still, surrounded by nuclear cooling towers, solar panels, wind turbines and stupas. What is immediately striking is the texture of the fabric itself. The Farnsworths' thangkas are woven tapestries — a departure from the tradition of painted thangkas. The weave is so apparent that the detail and physicality of the texture makes the imagery nearly abstract. The pixilated or atom-like weave communicates the Buddhist idea of no separation — the idea that each individual, the environment, and the spirit are absolutely linked.

It takes some looking to spot the nuclear cooling towers, and even more looking to locate the solar panels. In fact, a visitor to the gallery could easily miss the contemporary imagery and mistake the thangkas for traditional monastery objects. Yet it is the nearly hidden, contemporary imagery that is the most convincing part of the work and the core of the Farnsworths' environmental message.

The Farnsworths take many other liberties with the art form of the thangka. Traditional thangka painting is learned from lifetime masters, and apprentices study the form for at least a decade. Canonical rules are strictly obeyed. The process of making them is silent and meditative. This may be why many find these images so intensely beautiful. The artist's energy and devotion are sensed in the work.

In contrast, the Farnsworths digitally and manually manipulate reproductions of already existing thangkas in much of their work. They are interested in utilizing the iconography and the Buddhist philosophy in the traditional works, while adding a contemporary agenda. The desired intention is admirable, but is it conceptually successful?


Era and Donald Farnsworth,
Mythos VIII, Deluge Thangka,
Jacquard tapestry

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“Mythos VIII, Deluge Thangka” is based on an 18th-century work illustrating the tale of Ghantapada, a monk who fell in love with a courtesan's daughter. In the Farnsworths' version, uncontrollable love is likened to uncontrollable global warming (which, unlike passion, does not decrease with time). The chemical symbol CO2 blocks out the sun. Glaciers melt in the background. In the foreground, a solo androgynous Avalokiteshvara, the goddess of compassion, shields her eyes. The contemporary images are tangible, familiar and jarring. But most viewers will recognize that the figure and the composition are not from our time. Because of this, works meant to get us in touch with current environmental realities instead take on the psychological and intellectual distance of an artifact.

In Nepal and Tibet, a thangka is created by an anonymous artist who does not express a personal vision. Thangkas are unique, singular works, created in solitude. They are spiritual offerings blessed by a recognized Buddhist master. The Farnsworth's thangkas are pointed environmental messages, created in editions on computerized looms, sold in contemporary art galleries. (The Farnsworths are the owners and operators of Magnolia Editions in Oakland, Calif., a studio that creates print and tapestry editions for artists such as Ed Moses, Chuck Close, Squeak Carnwath and Hung Liu, as well as for themselves.)

Some of the Farnsworths' formal choices cloud, rather than unveil, the intimate and contemporary messages they intend. On the plus side, the work is gorgeously crafted and aesthetically delicious. And the Farnsworths' environmental commitment is sincere: If we recognize that we are all Buddhas, not separate from our world and from our environment, we will take care of the earth as if it is our own body.

Thangka, new work by Donald and Era Farnsworth
Turner Carroll Gallery
725 Canyon Road, Santa Fe
505-989-9800
Public opening reception: Friday, August 29, 5-7 pm
Through September 15, 2008

This review was originally published in the August 29, 2008 issue of the Journal Santa Fe, in the column Object Lessons.