Luxation I (Primary Title)

Tsherin Sherpa, born 1968 (Artist)

Educational
2016
Acrylic on canvas
California,USA
Overall: 18 × 18 in. (45.72 × 45.72 cm)
2017.195a-p

Son and student of a master Tibetan painter, Tsherin Sherpa left Nepal in the 1980s for California. The title of this work, made after the catastrophic 2015 Nepal earthquake, means dislocation or displacement. It references that disaster’s devastation as well as the cultural dislocation experienced by the artist and all Tibetans. Sixteen pieces of an image of the Buddhist deity Vajrabhairava are assembled into a composition whose small gaps are like chasms of missing information. The result is a vision mirroring the unenlightened viewer’s confusion: particular elements are recognizable, but their sum and true significance is unclear. The journey plotted by this exhibition leads to a confrontation with Vajrabhairava, the wrathful emanation of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, whose purpose is to help us conquer our most deeply seated anxiety.

Signed in black ink on canvas lower edge verso: “Tsherin Sherpa”.
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey toward Enlightenment, VMFA, Richmond, April 20-August 14, 2019; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, January 17 – November 29, 2020; Rubin Museum of Art, New York, March 12, 2021 – January 2, 2022

Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits | The Artist
3:52

Tsherin Sherpa visits Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits at VMFA in 2022 along with Dr. John Henry Rice, VMFA's E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art.

Curator’s Opening Talk | A Conversation with Tsherin Sherpa
1:07:22

On Thursday, February 17, 2022 Dr. John Henry Rice, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art participated in a conversation with artist Tsherin Sherpa. This video recording was made possible by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

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