asianart.com | exhibitions

Waves on the Turquoise Lake: Contemporary Expressions of Tibetan Art - Lisa Tamiris Becker

Seeing Into Being: The Waves on the Turquoise Lake Artists' and Scholars' Symposium - Carole McGranahan and Losang Gyatso

Acknowledgements | Waves on the Turquoise Lake main exhibition

Artist Biographies

Benchung
Born and raised in Lhasa, capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China and of the historic state of Tibet, Benchung attended art school at Tibet University and Tianjin University. He began teaching at Tibet University in 1992, and became a member of the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild in 2005. He has exhibited in Beijing, Tokyo, and New York City. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree from the National College of Art and Design in Oslo, Norway.

Dedron
Born in Lhasa, Dedron graduated from Tibet University in 1999. She is a member of the China Minority Art Association and the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild. She has exhibited in the only all-woman exhibition in Lhasa, as well as in London, New York, and Santa Fe. Dedron currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Namgyal Dorjee
Namgyal Dorjee was born in Dehra Dun, India. He studied oil painting at the Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie, India. After completing his training there, he joined Tibetan Children’s Village School in 1992 and served as an art teacher and illustrator for 11 years. In 1997, he joined the Education Development and Resource Center of TCV School, Dharamsala where he worked as an illustrator for school textbooks and storybooks until 2003. The Alexandra David Neel Foundation at Digne in South France twice invited Namgyal Dorjee, in 2001 and 2002, to create paintings of different Tibetan traditional costumes, monasteries, stupas and deities, landscapes and animals of Tibet. His works are on display at the Foundation’s Museum. In Decmber 2005, he participated in a group exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art at the Tibet Museum, Dharamsala, the first of its kind. Namgyal Dorjee just recently relocated to Queens, New York, from Dharamsala, India.

Gade
Born in Lhasa, Gade graduated from the Art Department at Tibet University in 1991, and studied at the Central Arts Academy in Beijing from 1992-1993. From 2001 to 2003 he held “Artist-in-Residence” positions in New York City and the Taigh Chearsabaugh Museum and Art Center in Lochmaddy, Scotland. In 2003 he helped found the Gedun Choephel Artist’s Guild, with artists and gallery based in Lhasa. He has exhibited in France, Japan, Malaysia, Macau, London, New York City and Santa Fe. Gade currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Gonkar Gyatso
Gonkar Gyatso was born in Lhasa, Tibet, and studied fine art at the Central Arts Academy in Beijing, China, and at Central St. Martins and the Chelsea School of Design in London, UK. Gonkar is the founder of Sweet Tea House (London), the first gallery in Europe devoted to showcasing contemporary Tibetan Art. He has exhibited in London, Oxford, Zurich, Helsinki, New Delhi, New York, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. He has been a recipient of the Leverhulme Fellowship in 2003 as an Artist-in-Residence at Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, as well as a fellow at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archive, Dharamsala, India for traditional Tibetan painting studies. Gonkar currently lives and works in London.

Losang Gyatso
Losang Gyatso was born in Tibet and has lived in the United States since 1974. His work engages with the intersection of the spiritual and physical, drawing inspiration from pre-Buddhist and Buddhist worldviews and symbols such as those in the Shang Shung rock art of Tibet. His background and interest in design and photography lend both a focus and narrative to his subject matter. Gyatso’s work is largely stripped of ritual and traditional conventions, thus allowing all visual forms of inquiry into his subject matter.

Jhamsang
Born and raised in Lhasa, Jhamsang apprenticed with the thangka master Tenpa Rapten in 1987. He currently teaches art and is a member of the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild. Jhamsang lives and works in Lhasa.

Kaltse
Born in Lhasa, Kaltse studied stage design at the Shanghai Academy of Drama in 1987 and began working for the Tibetan Song and Dance Troupe in Lhasa in 1991. He has exhibited in Beijing and Sydney. Kaltse is currently the editor of the Tibet Publication Institute, as well as a member of the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild in Lhasa.

Kesang Lamdark
Born in Dharamsala, India, Kesang Lamdark grew up in Switzerland. He received a B.F.A. from Parsons School of Design in 1995, and an MFA from Columbia University in 1997. Kesang has exhibited in London, Montreal, New York City, San Francisco and Zurich. He currently lives and works as a free-lance artist at Atelier Rote Fabrick in Zurich, Switzerland.

Nortse
Born and raised in Lhasa, Nortse found his first outlet for artistic expression working as a stage designer for television programs as a teenager. From 1980 to 1991, he studied art at various schools, including Tibet University in Lhasa, the Central Arts Academy in Beijing, and the Art Academies in Guangzhou and Tainjing. He has exhibited in Beijing, Lhasa, London and Santa Fe. Nortse currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Tsering Nyandak
Born in Lhasa, Tsering Nyandak lived and studied at the Tibetan Children’s Village school in Dharamsala, India from 1985-1993. When he returned to Lhasa, he began working as a tour guide and translator while painting. In 1999 he began apprenticing with Tsewang Tashi, a renowned professor of contemporary art at Tibet University. In 2000 Tsering Nyandak became a full-time, independent artist, and in 2003 helped found the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild in Lhasa. He has exhibited in China, Germany, Nepal, London, New York, and Santa Fe. Tsering Nyandak currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Karma Phuntsok
Born in Lhasa, Karma Phuntsok was raised in India, studying drawing and painting through his school years there. In 1973, he studied thangka painting with a master of traditional Tibetan thangka painting in Nepal. Since then he has been making paintings based on Tibetan Buddhist deities. In 1981, Karma migrated to Australia, and now lives and works north of Kyogle in New South Wales.

Tenzing Rigdol
Born in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tenzing Rigdol apprenticed at the School of Tibetan Thangkha Painting under the guidance of Master Phenpo Tentar and Tenzing Gawa. He also studied traditional Tibetan carpet design at the Tibetan Children’s Village Handicraft institute, and classical Tibetan painting in Dharamsala, India. In 2001 Tenzing Rigdol trained at Shakhaar Choten monastery in Nepal, studying Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, sand painting and butter sculpture. In 2004, he graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with a degree focusing on painting, drawing, art history and philosophy. Tenzing Rigdol currently lives and works in Denver.

Samchung
Born and raised in Kham, the eastern province of traditional Tibet, Samchung moved to Beijing as a young man to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Tibetan Literature and Culture at the Central Minorities University. He trained as an artist at the School of Fine Arts at the South West University of China in Chengdu, becoming a member of the Fine Arts Association of Sichuan in 1999. He has exhibited in Beijing, Chengdu, and most recently in Dharamsala in 2004. Samchung currently lives and works in Dharamsala.

Shelka
Born in Dongkar, near Lhasa in Tuiling County, Shelka trained in the Art Department at Tibet University from 1981-1985, and in 1986 his work “Grinding Tsampa” was featured at the National Museum in Beijing. In 1991 he studied at the Central Art Academy in Beijing, focusing on studio art with a contemporary edge. Upon returning to Lhasa, he started working at the Tibet Exhibition Institute, taking a hiatus from his personal artwork. In 2000 he was a featured artist in the 25th anniversary of Tibet University, and in 2005 he returned to painting. He is a member of the Tibet Art Association, the Tibet Folk Art Institution, and the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild. Shelka currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Sodhon
Born in Tibet, Sodhon grew up studying informally with art instructors and also apprenticing under master thangka painters. In 1981, he worked as a volunteer artist in the mural restoration project at Drepung Ganden Phodrang, the monastery and traditional seat of the Dalai Lamas. In 1988, he crossed into India and became a resident artist in the Department of Education of the Tibetan government in exile, where he illustrated books and created educational materials for children. In 1999, he became an instructor at the College for Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath where he taught creative skills to teacher trainees. Sodhon has collaborated on projects with many Tibetan cultural groups including the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, Tsampa Literary Group and the Amnye Machen Institute. Sodhon has exhibited in Dharamsala, New Delhi, and New York City. He currently lives and works in Dharamsala.

Tsewang Tashi
Born in Lhasa, Tsewang Tashi graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Central University for National Minorities in Beijing in 1984 and taught there until 1987. He returned to Lhasa in 1989 and began teaching at Tibet University. In 2001 he was awarded a Master’s degree from the National College of Art and Design in Oslo, Norway, whereupon he returned to Lhasa to resume his professorship at Tibet University, and to become a member of the Gedun Choephel Artist Guild in 2003. He has exhibited in various locations in China, Norway, Japan, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and the United States, and hascurated exhibitions of Norweigan contemporary art at Tibet University and the only all-woman exhibition in Lhasa. Tsewang Tashi currently lives and works in Lhasa.

Migmar Wangdu
Migmar Wangdu is a member of the Shunue Dame Artist Guild. Shune Dame was formed in August 2004 by recent graduates from Tibet University. Inspired by the lives and philosophies of such figures as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, artists in this guild practice and paint in the traditions of non-violence and freedom of ideas. Migmar Wangdu currently lives and works in Lhasa.

 
Contributors

Lisa Tamiris Becker
Lisa Tamiris Becker serves as Director of the CU Art Museum, University of Colorado at Boulder, where she has curated and organized recent exhibitions such as Vestige/Vestigio: Laura Anderson Barbata, Betsabeé Romero, and Oscar Muñoz; Techno/Sublime; “The Way We Live Now” and other Artist Books from the Polly and Mark Addison Collection; Enrique Martinez Celaya: Poetry in Process; Paul DeMarinis: Gray Matter, and Because the Earth Is 1/3 Dirt (co-curated). She recently co-curated in Stockholm, Sweden, an exhibition of American and Scandinavian artists at the former Nobel Factory, now known as Skulpturens Hus. Selections of her previous curatorial projects include Mary Lucier: Bodies of Light; Julio Galan and Roberto Juarez: Marks of Transcendence; Visual Worlds: Visuality in the Age of Globalization (co-curated); and Alice Street Revisited: The Palace at 9 a.m. and Related Works by Robert Arneson. Ms. Becker has also lectured widely at art museums, galleries, and universities across the United States and internationally. Lisa Tamiris Becker earned her B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was also a Benjamin Franklin Honors Student. She earned her M.F.A. in Studio Art and Art Theory from the University of Texas at Austin. She was born in Leeds, England in 1967. She is co-currator of Waves on the Turquoise Lake: Contemporary Expression of Tibetan Art.

Losang Gyatso (see artist biographies)

Carole McGranahan
Carole McGranahan is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado and a Director of the Mechak Center for Contemporary Tibetan Art. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and History from the University of Michigan specializing in contemporary Tibetan culture, history, and politics.

Tamar Victoria Scoggin
Tamar Victoria Scoggin, born in Denver, raised in Boulder, first ventured to Tibet as a student with the School for International Training “Tibetan Studies” program in 1999. She graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in anthropology in 2000, and returned to Boulder to receive a Master of Arts in Anthropology and Master of Science in Museum and Field Studies from the University of Colorado (2004/2005). She has worked with Mechak Center for Contemporary Tibetan Art, curating the first group exhibition of contemporary Tibetan artists in exile Old Soul, New Art in New York City and Washington, D.C. in 2005, as well as co-curated the first major museum exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art, Waves on the Turquoise Lake: Contemporary Expression of Tibetan Art at the CU Art Museum in 2006.


Acknowledgements | Waves on the Turquoise Lake main exhibition

Seeing Into Being: The Waves on the Turquoise Lake Artists' and Scholars' Symposium - Carole McGranahan and Losang Gyatso

Waves on the Turquoise Lake: Contemporary Expressions of Tibetan Art - Lisa Tamiris Becker

asianart.com | exhibitions