On the banks of the Lhasa River, Nortse’s studio overlooks the magnificent Himalayas. Legend has it that this is the spiritual mountain of Langdarma, the last tsenpo, or king, of the Tibetan Empire (618–842). The artist (b. 1963) has spent most of his time here since 2019 creating the body of works that comprise The Golden Earth, his second solo exhibition at Rossi & Rossi Hong Kong. The exhibition is on view at the gallery’s Wong Chuk Hang space from 26 November 2022 to 21 January 2023.

Amongst the more than one dozen works on view in the exhibition is the eponymous The Golden Earth (2021), in which Nortse arranged prayer flags on a canvas into the shape of a mushroom cloud, as if they were coming out of an exploding atomic bomb. Ready-made objects, such as a shotgun, a watch, a cross, a stethoscope, masks, sieves and random plastic items, are interspersed throughout the creases of the flags. In Tibet, people believe that prayer flags can help to carry blessings on the winds of karma. Traditionally, these conduits of well-wishing have contained handwritten scriptures; but in modern times, they have become mass-produced, machine-printed onto synthetic materials. In this work, the artist painted a six-word Buddhist mantra on the flags, which is meant to transmit the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom. The work, itself, is a reflection on the industrial era as well as critical survival crises – in particular, ecological disasters, the energy crisis and the global pandemic – that humanity faces in this century.

Gallery address: 1/F, M Place 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road