From Classic to Contemporary
Visions from Tibet

2005-11-03 - 2006-01-20

From Classic to Contemporary: Visions from Tibet will be presented jointly by Rossi & Rossi at 13 Old Bond Street, London W1, and The Sweet Tea House, a gallery specialising in contemporary Tibetan art, at 264 Globe Road, London E2, from Thursday 3 to Wednesday 30 November 2005. Comprising some 50 Tibetan paintings spanning 900 years, the exhibition will be a significant contribution to the eighth annual staging of Asian Art in London that takes place from 3 to 12 November 2005. This highly successful enterprise draws on the unparalleled expertise in the field offered by dealers, auction houses, museums and other institutions in London that attract collectors and scholars to the city from around the world.

For more than a thousand years, Tibetan artists have played a key role in the cultural life of Tibet. From designs for painted furniture to elaborate murals in religious buildings, their efforts have permeated virtually every facet of life on the Tibetan plateau and defined a visual style which is distinctly Tibetan. The vast majority of surviving artworks created before the mid-20th century are dedicated to the depiction of religious subjects and are imbued with tradition both in terms of technique, for the most part being distemper on cloth or murals, and subject matter drawn from the rich panoply of religious texts. They were commissioned by religious establishments or by pious individuals for use within the practice of Tibetan Buddhism and, despite the existence of flourishing workshops, the artists were largely anonymous. These works not only document key philosophical and spiritual concepts but also demonstrate the vitality of Tibetan aesthetics over the centuries in terms of the development of particular schools and the cross-fertilisation of stylistic influences from other countries such as China, Nepal and India.

Today, however, Tibet presents a very different picture and the aim of this exhibition is to show the evolution from tradition to the contemporary work to be found in Lhasa today, where there is a truly vibrant, modern and exciting artistic scene waiting to be discovered.

During the political and economic upheavals in Tibet from the 1950s to the mid-1980s, artistic practice in the traditional Tibetan manner was circumscribed due to restrictions on all activities relating to religion. In its place came Socialist Realist painting from China and some Tibetan artists adopted this alien cultural style. However, in the last two decades a degree of freedom of expression has returned to Tibet and artists have begun to reflect this new climate in their work. Some have returned to the traditionalist styles of their forefathers, painting thangka (religious scroll paintings) that retain the iconographic and aesthetic qualities of earlier work.

Others follow a ‘middle way’ combining lessons from the art of the past with motifs and techniques that reflect Tibet’s modernity. Yet another group is inventing a completely new type of Tibetan painting which draws inspiration from contemporary art movements in Asia and the West to produce radical, even avant-garde, works. However, all three approaches are to some extent engaged in a dialogue with the past and with the works of Tibetan artists of previous centuries as illustrated by this exhibition.

One of the earliest paintings to be exhibited dates from the late 12th/early 13th century and depicts Vajravarahi, the Adamantine Sow and symbol of freedom from ignorance. Painted with distemper on cloth, the wide-eyed goddess is depicted on the saffron yellow centre of a lotus trampling a supine male. A red curtain of flames provides a backdrop against which eight members of her entourage dance while other figures frame the central scene indicating that the painting represents a mandala or sacred assembly associated with the goddess. Against a dark blue ground behind the goddess are eight cremation grounds bordered by streams, sites that are associated with Indian medieval cremation grounds where yogis and yoginis would convene for meditation and Tantric rites.

Another early thangka painted on cloth dates from the 13th century and depicts Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, seated within a shrine with multiple roofs and a crowning shrine containing a standing Buddha. The bodhisattva’s golden body bends gracefully as he makes the giving gesture with his right hand that holds the stem of a blue lotus – symbolising the teachings of the Buddha. An attendant bodhisattva stands in a shrine each side of Manjushri, two small forms of the god float above and five further forms are aligned along the bottom of the picture. Along the top are the seven Manushi Buddhas of the past and Maitreya, Buddha of the Future. The configuration of this thangka is unusual and it is one of the relatively few surviving thangkas of Manjushri of this early date.

There will be 14 contemporary Tibetan artists represented. Among them will be the established artist Ang Sang who was born in Lhasa in 1962 and graduated in thangka painting in 1988 from Tibet University. His work has been widely exhibited in Tibet and China, winning several prizes. He says of his work: “It is the art language of the spirituality of our nationality, I am trying to find out the common point between the ancient Tibetan traditional art and Western avant-garde art”.

Tsewang Tashi, born in Lhasa in 1963, is currently Associate Professor at Tibet University and a founding member of the Gedun Choephel Artists’ Guild. His works have been shown internationally and a number are included in this London exhibition. Entitled Buddha is a mixed media work by Dedron who was born in Lhasa in 1976, another graduate of Tibet University. Her works incorporate much modern, cubist and even surrealist influences. Birth of Buddha by Jhamsang, born in Lhasa in 1971, demonstrates the ‘middle way’ of contemporary Tibetan art, juxtaposing traditional techniques of thangka painting with new images. Tsering Nyandak, born in Lhasa in 1974, is a self-taught artist who works independently, believing that as an artist “one should find one’s own mode of expression integrated deeply in oneself”. He is represented by Lhasa Beer which depicts two drunken and laughing figures.

From Classic to Contemporary: Visions from Tibet is co-curated by Gonkar Gyatso, Director of The Sweet Tea House, and one of the founders of a well known artists group in Tibet, The Sweet Tea House Artists Association, formed in Lhasa in 1985. He opened his gallery in the East End of London, the heart of London’s contemporary art scene, in October 2003 and named it after this association. The gallery is dedicated to promoting contemporary Tibetan art. He aims not only to focus on art created inside Tibet but also to bring together Tibetan artists from all parts of the world, regardless of their political stance, situation, background, and education. It is the first gallery of this kind in the West. Gonkar Gyatso himself is a critically acclaimed artist whose works explore the themes of cultural relationships and his own hybrid experience. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Europe and North America such as the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, October Gallery, London, and Tibet House, New York.

From Classic to Contemporary: Visions from Tibet reflects Rossi & Rossi’s deep interest not only in the art and culture of the past but also in what is happening there today. Rossi & Rossi was founded in London in 1985 by Anna Maria Rossi. In 1988 she was joined by her son Fabio and together they have established a reputation as leading dealers in Indian and Himalayan art as well as publishing a number of scholarly works. Among their clients are such major institutions as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Tokyo National Museum.