Chinese artist DALeast, celebrated for his prolific contributions to street art and recognized as a skilled painter, sculptor, and digital artist, takes center stage as the focal point of our 12th online exhibition.

A swirling, spiraling dance of shapes and fragments. Synthesis of material and energy, space and time. Colour turns into dimensions, dimensions turn into movement, embracing impermanence and transience. Breathing life into the grey concrete towers we build, commemorating existence with complexity, precision and layers that nurture one’s spirit. Awareness, freedom and celebration.

These are a few phrases the artist chose to describe his work. Energy, transience and essence: The versatile artist DALeast captures fragments of time and space on canvas, paper, and the walls of public spaces. Through his creations, the artist reflects the reality of impermanence, movement and energy through a juxtaposition of abstract and figurative gestures while creating awareness for contemporary topics highlighting environmental issues and the inevitable decay of existence. Beginning his professional journey as a sculptor, DALeast is an ever-exploring and spiritually growing creator who translates his metaphysical content into the materiality and worldly nature of his work. Through his pieces, spirits return to the urban space as artist-made physical entities moving through time, connecting past, presence and future. DALeast deconstructs their physical nature, commemorating a disappearing existence through his intricate, transcultural visual language that intersects perspectives of traditional Chinese and global contemporary art. He transforms his movement during the creation into dynamic and multidimensional representations of transience that showcase his dedication to details, depth and space. DALeast provides a fertile ground for viewers to acknowledge, understand and relate with his work that ultimately becomes the mirror of a person’s subconsciousness.

DALeast in front of his mural “Defoliation P”, Urban Nation Museum, Project M/6, Berlin, Germany 2014.

Creating from a very young age, DALeast explored different mediums before committing to the fine arts: He has experimented with traditional Asian practices and Western techniques, delved into new media and found his space in urban art, beginning with graffiti. When DALeast started studying sculpture, he quickly understood that his joy was connected to public spaces and not confined to the media common to formal art education. After dropping out of the fine arts institute and before moving from his hometown to Beijing, he experimented with performative interventions and installations in public spaces alongside the collective CHIRP for a year.In 2010, DALeast moved to South Africa, which marked a prolific period in the studio and in public spaces globally. After 2015, he spent two years traveling and working without a home base before moving to Berlin. These years nurtured his practice and existence, as he responded to impressions he encountered worldwide. Currently, he is living in Nepal and embracing new inspirations.

A mural painted by DALeast in Borås, Sweden in 2022.

Beyond his artistic prowess, DALeast’s benevolence shines through as he has generously contributed his art to various projects of the Khyentse Mandala. His portfolio includes illustrating sutras for 84000 and Kumarajiva, with his illustrations being used for posters at Siddhartha’s Intent events, creating videos, featuring in Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s movie “Looking for a Lady with Fangs and Moustache”, and recently participating in Siddhartha Festival’s Art Show in Bodh Gaya. In a philanthropic gesture, DALeast has also offered five prints of his paintings, each signed and stamped by the artist, with all proceeds directed toward Siddhartha’s Intent. You can purchase them on Sahaja Artist Colective page.

To learn more about this wonderful artist please visit his website and Instagram page.

Based upon the sūtra “The Play in Full,” this abstract film titled “The Perfect Awakening” aspires to explore the crucial moments around which the Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment. Directed & Edited by DALeast.