Art of freedom

Trained as a Thanka painter, Ngawan Jorden paints scenes that depict the modern-day Tibetan struggle. Belief in basic human rights for all people and a respect for the power of the natural world are recurring themes in his work. He believes people...

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View and bid on my work for #ArtForTibet united 50+ Artists to benefit @studentsforafreetibet new through Dec 21 @paddle8

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Is your Wheel of Life painting for sale? Thank you, Cyndi Lee

Hi Cyndi, thank you for asking and reaching out but it is already sold. I have other pieces available if you are interested. Let me know what you think. You can always inquire. -- Jorden

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Next time you are meditating and trying to see Buddha in you, let me know, I found a way in which you can see it.

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Divine Evil  2014

When I first created the image I didn't really have a whole vision of what exactly I wanted to do, first I thought of creating a person that is "protected" - with the latest gear and equipment - but I wanted him to have a reflection on his goggles of this well known photo taken during the civil rights movement, where the police releases the dogs to attack protestors, then the concept developed into what the painting portrays now. Interesting enough, half way through doing the painting, the Ferguson case happened. 

- In this painting, the overall idea is to show that, the usual brutality and authoritarianism used against your fellow citizens, hasn't changed much throughout human history, it probably even got worse, the only thing that has changed are maybe the methods, tactics or tools, but the principle is the same, regardless of point in time or location.  - The wheel represents a "halo", a symbol that would represent divinity and  protector or authority, while at the same time the wheel is on fire to show an endless cycle or occurrence. 

- On his left shoulder his "conscience" tied to an element of lust, he is lost in his power and anger.

- On the left side of his brain, which is the rational or logical side of the brain, there is an empty space that is filled with an ammunition and in the position of the heart, there is also an empty space, filled with a tear gas grenade. 

-  There are hidden elements behind the mask, and that's also why he is also wearing a tie, because of the politics behind all of the actions or orders given to them. A hidden force, if you will. 

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Modern day four harmonious friends  2014

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History of Tibet

www.studentsforafreetibet.org

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Ocean of Wisdom

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Mao’s legacy

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Infinite Consumption in Impermanence.

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With the creation and promotion of the Confucius Institutes that are popping up everywhere in China and Western countries - in major Universities and even High Schools - look out! because the same authoritarian regime that destroyed Confucius during the cultural revolution is now promoting it, while at the same time they celebrate Mao's legacy - responsible for roughly 50 million deaths during his time as China's leader. These illogical actions from the Chinese Communist Party inspired me to create this piece.

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The Peace of Wild Things BY WENDELL BERRY When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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༄༅། །བསྟན་པ་ཁོ་ན་ལྷར་བཅས་འགྲོ་བ་ཡི། །བདེ་ལེགས་ཀུན་གྱི་རྩ་བར་ཡིད་ཆེས་ནས།

།ལུས་སྲོག་ཡལ་བར་གྱུར་ཀྱང་མི་གཏོང་བའི། །སྙིང་སྟོབས་ཆེན་པོས་དམ་ཆོས་འཛིན་པར་ཤོག ། 

Translation: Since the Buddha-doctrine alone is the well-spring of every well-being for sentient beings, even devas, may the sublirime Dharma be upheld with great courage and not be abandoned even at the cost of our lives. 

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Wheel of Life  2012

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Self Portrait   2012

In times, our perceptions prompt us to act without understanding the reality of the nature of things. The culmination of such actions produce a completely different result from the initial conceived idea. This is what I have been thinking lately. Our fellow Tibetans who decided to self immolate. Acts that represent the ultimate Buddhist principle of self sacrifice for the greater good. This act of frustration has fueled the hearts of Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet. Our fellows have shown their courage and determination to self sacrifice for our survival, our Nation Tibet, our identity, and our freedom. Let's uphold and continue our fight and participate in the Lhakar movement in our homes, neighborhood and communities. Such selfless acts have saddened me to my core. But also showered me with additional strength to continue our fight to reclaim our Nation. Today, on Losar, Tibetan year 2139, I am making a stand - to not purchase Chinese products. Boycott China! The sequence of my thought, deaths of our brave fellows, and the stand I decided to take led me to this self portrait. - Ngawang Jorden

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Mother of all    2011