Object number2022.15.1

Daily Doodles, No. 22

Date2022

Artist Gonkar Gyatso (British, born Tibet 1961)

CultureBritish, Tibetan

MediumPencil, ink, stickers, paper cut-out on fine art paper

DimensionsSheet: 6 x 4 5/8 in. (15.2 x 11.7 cm)
Framed: 11 3/16 x 9 1/8 x 1 1/4 in. (28.4 x 23.2 x 3.2 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, gift of Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson, by exchange

On View

Not on view

Period21st c

Classification(s)

Drawings and Watercolors

InscribedOn verso, handwritten in blue lettering at lower right: No. 22 On verso, stamped in red lettering at lower right: THE SWEET TEA HOUSE / CONTEMPORARY TIBETAN / ART GALLERY / 264 Globe Road, London E2 OJD / T/F 020 8980 2909

Vassar Exhibitions

Chronostasia: Select Acquisitions 2020–2025

Label TextGonkar Gyatso developed these colored-pencil drawings as daily practice to navigate life during the COVID pandemic lockdowns in Asia. Each Daily Doodle captures competing realities within its small sketchbook format: Santa Claus receiving a COVID test, surveillance cameras positioned near safety slogans, and a skateboarding figure navigating quarantine warnings. Pop imagery and state messaging collide through what Louise Martin-Chew describes as “sampling and improvisation,” creating visual bricolage that resists resolution. Chinese characters in bright red text quote government messages while candy-colored AQI bubbles report conflicting air quality data. These portable chronicles archive the simultaneous strangeness and familiarity of pandemic life, where official narratives compete with lived experience, humor punctuates anxiety, and global concerns merge with everyday routine.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu