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The Following essay is by curator Ilyana Nedkova was written for a
publication / show catalogue "Stills Artist Residencies 2003/4 of
which I had a show in both years (click this link if you want the whole booklet as a pdf - I
am on page 18)
Chris Dooks : Awakenings
Spiritualism and electronica, experimental audio and dance,
artist’s film and songwriting, as well as themes of isolation and
contemplation, feature strongly in artist Chris Dooks recent work.
Investigating the manner in which contemporary art practice
resonates with Buddhist thought has been the focus of Dooks’ latest
projects. As Marcia Tucker, a writer, lecturer and Founding
Director of The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, points
out ‘For those of us in the field of visual arts, even a limited
engagement with Buddhist philosophy and practice could generate a
fresh approach to our work, one that doesn’t (even inadvertently)
privilege the institution, isolate the artist or demean the public.
Buddhism teaches us to relate to the world with openness,
acceptance, generosity, and joy. Could it also teach us to relate
to art in the same way?
Historians have traced the influences of Buddhism on (western) art
to the early and mid 1970s when spirituality was stylish, artists
wore white and there was a sense of purpose. It was the time when
artists were self-conscious and aware that they were creating a new
scene. 30 years later artists seem to be as fascinated with
Buddhism as Dooks is. Few strong works spring to mind including Sea
of Buddha, 1997 a suite of richly detailed black and white,
meditative photographs taken inside Kyoto’s famed thirteenth
century Buddhist temple; the lush, and brooding Ghost Dog:The Way
of the Samurai, 1999 by film director Jim Jarmusch; and the solo,
epic works Happiness, Beauty and The End of the Moon, 2001-03 by
multi-media artist Laurie Anderson.
Dooks’ The Perfection Of Wisdom (The Heart Sutra),
2003, is one of his first works inspired by a sacred poetic
scripture, believed to be the essence of the Buddhist notion of
emptiness, the concept that nothing is fixed or permanent.
Incorporating text and sound, Dooks’ work conveys the artist’s
understanding of the mantra and highlights his personal journey of
as a practicing Buddhist.The audio is a documentary interview
between the artist and Pasada, an elderly Edinburgh Buddhist, who
is an ordained member of The Friends Of The Western Buddhist Order,
one of the largest spiritual communities of its kind in
Scotland.The passion which streams from Pasada’s almost cult speech
when he reflects on his years of meditation, ‘mindfulness of
breathing’ and practice of ‘universal loving kindness’ is somewhat
contradicted by the humbling ‘I now have the flavour of
emptiness.’
Samboghakaya (Concentrate Kindly), 2004 is the artist’s
latest comment on spirituality. This video installation consists of
a single, continuous shot in water of Buddha’s inverted reflection
that the wind blows in and out of recognition. The visual
simplicity, the symbolism of water and the subtitle meaning
‘essence or archetypal body’ could be interpreted as a gateway to
meditation inviting people to sit, concentrate and experience a
moment of awakening, a moment of clarity in which a new insight or
understanding may be gained. With this new awareness, discursive
thoughts could be ceased for a moment and life could be seen
differently. If this is a basic teaching of Buddhism, then art can
partake in taking us to new levels of psychological and spiritual
maturity.
1. See Awake: Art, Buddhism, and the Dimensions of Consciousness, a
programme of contemporary art events exploring the common ground
between the creative mind, the perceiving mind, and the meditative
mind. http://www.artandbuddhism.org/
2.To listen to the audio on demand stream of The Perfection Of
Wisdom (The Heart Sutra), 2004, visit New Media Scotland’s sound
art radio station at http://www.mediascot.org/drift. Listen also to
Bovine Life Support System, 2003 – a programme, curated by Dooks
recorded in Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens, complete with animal and
bird calls.The programme features Scottish orientated or associated
experimental digital musics and sounds including the artist’s alter
ego Bovine Life.
Catalogue ISBN 0 906458 34 X
Still from "The Tin-Kin Series" (in progress)