金刚力士（原梵名Vajrapanibalin）以勇猛、庇护与驱邪仰正为精神使命渊源于世，在变迁动荡的文明历史中，其扩散、迭代、转变，既是物质外形上也是精神气脉上。造像艺术—塑像造型之美，造像舞艺术—身心灵动之美，作为人本质之初拥有的两种原始表达媒介与外化美学形式承接着金刚力士在漫漫历史中不断演化的型、气与境。人文、地域、技艺、权势千变万化的时代性赋予了金刚力士在与社会交织链接中的高度流动性。当代漂浮不定的数字情境下金刚力士内与外、形与神的“变”是什么？“美”是什么？显性与隐性的媒介表达是什么？又该如何承接？
Icon Isle Vajrapanibalin May 2025
Vajra Warriors, whose original Sanskrit name is Vajrapanibalin, emerge as a spirituality and an ontology of bravery, protectiveness, and the dispelling of evil in service of the righteous, traversing time, geographies, and religious thought. Across the long, turbulent course of civilization, Vajrapanibalin diffuses, iterates, and transforms—both in material tangibility and in spiritual intangibility. Crafting—carving the beauty of the Buddhist icon—and dancing—performing the vivacity of Buddhist movement—stand as two primal human media and externalized aesthetic forms that carry forward Vajrapanibalin’s “xing” (form), “qi” (vital breath), and “jing” (aura/realm) through drifting eras. Moreover, the fluid temporality of humanity, region, technique, and hierarchical power has endowed Vajrapanibalin with a high degree of fluidity in its entanglement with society. In our erratic digital context, what are the transformations of Vajrapanibalin’s physicality and essence? What is its contemporary beauty? And how might we inherit this art today?
Thermal Muscle August 2023