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Nyoirin Kannon
Nyoirin Kannon
Nyoirin Kannon

Nyoirin Kannon

Artist (American, 1945 - 2017)
Date2008
Mediumchromogenic print, masking tape and archival enhancing medium
DimensionsImage: 48 1/8 × 30 in. (122.2 × 76.2 cm)
Frame: 49 1/16 × 31 1/16 × 2 in. (124.6 × 78.9 × 5.1 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift Patrick Nagatani, 2016
Object number2016.4.2
DescriptionHuman figure dominates composition at center, seated on a multi-layered lotus flower. Background is a deep blue with Japanese characters in vertical columns. Figure is wearing a jeweled crown, necklace, and bracelets. Figure has six arms: on is touching cheek, one a wheel, one a lotus, one a rosary, one some jewelry. One hand is palm downward touching the lotus. Figure is covered from waist to ankles in drapery with additional draping across torso.
Text Entries
Nagatani has been working on his Tape-estry series since 1983. The process begins with a color photograph to which he selectively applies masking tape, often covering the whole surface in the translucent material. This translucency is appropriate to his subject, the Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (known as Kannon in Japanese Buddhism), who is associated with compassion and salvation.
Kannon is the Japanese name for the Indian Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Because of the boundless love he offered to all beings, this was the most popular of all the Buddhist deities throughout Asia. The Nyoirin Kannon, a prominent deity in the Japanese Esoteric Buddhist pantheon, is one of the six “changed forms” of the bodhisattva Kannon especially associated with the granting of desires. The word nyo-i refers to the cintamani, the wish-granting jewel; the term rin, which means “wheel,” refers to the turning of the wheel of the law. The Nyoirin Kannon was widely worshiped by those who hoped to gain riches and see their requests fulfilled. This image shows the deity seated in a pose of royal ease. Although drawings frequently depict this god as a bodhisattva with two arms, the six-armed form was also popular in Japan. As in this image, one hand is often shown touching the cheek, and a left arm is often braced against the lotus pedestal, a gesture that also confers a blessing. Of the other four arms, one of the right hands holds the jewel, and one of the left hands holds a lotus. The raised left arm holds a wheel balanced on the upright finger, and the lowered right arm holds a rosary.The test behind the figure is in an ancient form of Japanese.

 

Nagatani has been working on the works he calls Tape-estries since 1983. The process begins with a photographic image made as a chromogenic print to which the artist selectively applies masking tape, often covering the whole surface in the translucent material. The finished piece is then coated with an archival enhancing medium (Golden brand fluid matte medium and Golden brand polymer varnish with UVLS) to aid in adhesion and preservation. The earliest works from the 1980s have not shown signs of flaking or deterioration and the pieces appear to be stable. See object file for additional information.
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