VMFA’s 2022 exhibition Spirits traced Nepal-born Tibetan American painter Tsherin Sherpa’s artistic career through his series of the same name. In it, he asks what would happen if Tibet’s guardian deities had left their homeland alongside so much of the region’s populace. Where would these beings end up, and how would they adapt? Removed from the places they once protected, would they retain their power?
Responding to these questions is a new exhibition in the South Asian Galleries featuring three works from the 2022 show and several additional Spirits paintings from private collections. All these works now reside in Richmond, giving the installation its title: Local Spirits. Like Sherpa’s many Spirit characters now scattered across the world, they have found new homes to watch over, their potency undiminished.
Enriching the presentation are traditional scroll paintings made by Sherpa before he launched his contemporary career, a masterpiece by his father and teacher, and a handful of other resonant objects from VMFA’s collection. Juxtapositions of historic and modern illuminate one another, and the Tibetan Buddhist imagery that informs Sherpa’s work is every bit as powerful as his stunning creations.
Skippers (Kneedeep),2019–20, Tsherin Sherpa (American, born Nepal, 1968), in collaboration with Regal Studio, Kathmandu, Nepal, gold leaf, acrylic, and ink on fiberglass. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Aldine S. Hartman Endowment Fund and Eric and Jeanette Lipman Fund, 2021.66
Himalayan Spirits, 2021, Tsherin Sherpa (American, born Nepal, 1968), gold, acrylic, and ink on canvas. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment and the following, by exchange: Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Paul Mellon; Gift of Miss Frances Leigh Williams in memory of her brother, Archer Anderson Williams; Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Mary Safford Hoogewerff; and Gift of Mr. George P. Bickford, 2022.74a–d
Luxation 1, 2016, Tsherin Sherpa (American, born Nepal, 1968), acrylic on canvas. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2017.195a–p
TOP OF PAGE Fly High, 2019, Tsherin Sherpa (American, born Nepal, 1968), metal leaf, acrylic, and ink on canvas. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Aldine S. Hartman Endowment Fund and Eric and Jeanette Lipman Fund, 2021.65