About the art in the Spring 2018 issue of Buddhadharma

We take a closer look at the art featured in the Spring 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.

By Tynette Deveaux

Left: the Spring 2018 “Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.” Right: study for “Ode de la méditation” (2012) by Ru Xiao Fan.

When we first saw Ode de la méditation, by Ru Xiao Fan (on this issue’s cover), we were both intrigued and challenged. Some of us found the work beautiful, even comforting, while for others it was unsettling. Ultimately, the work sparked intense discussion around the office—not only about what the artist intended but also what the image speaks to in our own experience of meditation.

pages of buddhadharma with falling person
Photographs by Denis Darzacq from the series La Chute (The Fall) (2005–2006). © Denis Darzacq / Agence Vu. From pages 68-69 of the Spring 2018 “Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.”

In his award-winning series La Chute
 (The Fall), French photographer Denis Darzacq captures young dancers in flight as they leap and jump against the backdrop of city spaces (see page 56). The subjects appear to defy gravity and stop time, yet we’re assured by the artist that the images have not been digitally manipulated. Initially inspired by a news report about hip-hop dancers, Darzacq “borrows street culture’s forms of expression and uses them as a tool for freedom.”

Mahakala art in Buddhadharma.
“Mahakala Head” by Mukti Singh Thapa via mahakalafinearts.com. From The Last Page, in the Spring 2018 “Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly.”

The thangka on The Last Page by Nepali artist Mukti Singh Thapa depicts the protector deity Mahakhala, a fierce and powerful emanation of Avalokiteshvara. The artist is well known for helping revive the Newar Design style popular in the Himalayas in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and paints exclusively using mineral and vegetable pigments.

Tynette Deveaux

Tynette Deveaux

Tynette Deveaux is the former editor of Buddhadharma.