• 16th Karmapa statue
  • Gampopa painting by Karmapa
  • Milarepa, Marpa and Gampopa
  • Akshobhya

Artwork

The Gyalwang Karmapa takes a great interest in many different forms of art including drawing, painting, sculpture, and calligraphy. When asked about the importance of art the Karmapa noted: “There could be a number of reasons why art is important, and it’s not necessarily important to everyone for the same reason. In my case, when the environment around me seems to be quite restricting, which happens to be often, and I feel the need to vent out this feeling of restriction that I’m bound by, then I want to put my feelings of creativity or imagination on paper or canvas and nobody’s trying to restrict me from doing that. For me art is a very important way to express myself under such circumstances, to have an outlet for my creative energy.” Please use the arrows to slide through the images on the left, all done by the Karmapa.