Himalayan Contemporary

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

The Himalayan region—often referred to as the "roof of the world"—has traditionally been considered a domain where time stands still. However the Himalayas, as with all other places on earth, are undergoing rapid political and cultural change in our Anthropocene age. This change is marked by many forms of contemporary agency, ranging temporally from the durational to momentary, from present-day to deeply historic ways of engaging both the global and the local. Himalayan Contemporary explores the plural, co-existing timescapes that comprise the present for Tibet and Nepal.

In this exhibition we present a range of contemporary practices by diasporic Himalayan artists, three from Tibet and two from Nepal: an exhibition of paintings by AngTsherin Sherpa, who lives in Northern California, and whose engagements deconstruct mandala forms to express the semantic ambiguity of traditional signs in the contemporary world; Newari artist Dinesh Charan Shrestha, who lives in Berkeley and paints Hindu deities in hypnotic detail using post-Renaissance realism; and Youdshishtir Maharjan, who lives in New Hampshire, and creates "meaningless" repetitive visual gestures inspired equally by Samuel Beckett and Buddhist sand mandalas.

Exhibition Programs
October 15-22, 2017, 10:00AM-5:00PM: Mandala of Avalokiteshvara  (The Mandala of Compassion)

We are deeply honored to host four monks from the Sera Monastery, who will be in residence at CIIS for the week to create a sand mandala in the Desai | Matta Gallery.

October 20-22, 2017, Chaksam-pa, the Tibetan Dance and Opera
In conjunction with Trolley Dances, 2017, we host multiple performance rituals each day by Chaksam-pa.
October 22, 5:00PM, Closing ritual to mark the conclusion of the creation of the mandala.
November 3, 6:00-8:00PM, Opening reception and conversation with the artists

Desai | Matta Gallery, First Floor