Cover “Buddha and the Forbidden Fruit” 2016 “We control our devices then our devices control us” Artwork by Ven Tashi – Karma Choeying Tashi (Tashi Norbu) Mixed media – Raw pigments, brocade collage and oil on linen 180x130 I Tibet Art Now 3.0 Nostalgia over the Edges ༄དེང་䝴ས་བོད་ཀ읲་སྒྱུ་让ལ་འགེམ་སོན་ཐེངས་ག魴མ་།། Venerable Karma Choeying Tashi (Tashi Norbu) Founder & Artistic Director Hoofdstraat 16c 7811 EP Emmen The Netherlands [email protected] www.mocta.org II III Foreword Four years have already passed since we established the Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art in Emmen, The Netherlands, making it the first Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art in Europe and worldwide. During these four years, I have served the Tibetan Art and Culture together with my Team, our valuable volunteers, and the Municipality of Emmen, working non-stop to transmit ideological concepts, bound by a goal, springing from my innate desire, to preserve the imprints of Tibetan art and culture. By collecting, preserving, interpreting, displaying objects of artistic, and cultural significance, we are educating the public about Tibet and we have been attracting interest, related to its voice, its land, its culture. We have been realizing individual and group exhibitions in our public and private spaces with lectures, tutorials, live painting performances, Tibetan Mantras Lounge recitations, and displays of sculptures, paintings and illustrations, along with avant-garde works of Tibetan in Diaspora, with all values they represent. This is what we perform in our Museum, with the aim to preserve the Heritage of Tibet, which is not only about the past; it is about the present and future. And here we do create a heritage by adding new ideas to old ideals; involving continual creation and transformation that is our Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art. Continuing my services and efforts towards my goal and mission, I am honored to bring to the attention of the public and Tibet Art lovers of the West, the Tibet Art Now 3.0 – “Nostalgia Over The Edges” happening in our Museum, until the end of this year. One of the most impressive exhibitions bringing together thirty Artists’ radical departures from the tradition, who created a significant impact in the world of Contemporary Tibetan Art. Amongst them, are interesting works of Tibetan Artists who did not have the opportunity to get established, for different reasons. Galleries are nurturing the careers of many Artists but not all of them. Much like today, many of history’s great Artists had to deal with the non-acceptance. Our museum supports these Artists and encourages them, promoting the individual’s goals and desires, manifesting the importance of individual self-reliance and freedom. Especially the censorship Artists, could potentially bring changes in the society and carry on with their works based on individualism, delivering to the world of art pieces that are moral and political, stressing human independence, all supported by the Museum along with its goal for the preservation of Tibetan art and culture. The exhibition focuses to the complexity of Tibetan Artistic movement in response to mass ideology, to the violence of industrialization, to the disembodiment of the society; seeking a way to position man in our world, to be voiced in exile and communicate with each other for our need to love and be free. We could not have contributed to this exhibition without the kind assistance and inspiration of many people. Particularly we acknowledge Tsering Nyendrak from "Gedun Choepel Artist Guild" and Phurbu from "Botsun Art"; with their efforts we managed to have the Artworks for the exhibition in our Museum. Also, all above mentioned Artists in Diaspora who have supported our Museum with their permanent Art collection. Tashi Norbu Founder Museum of Contemporary Tibetan Art IV INTRODUCTION The exhibition “Tibet Art Now 3.0” - “Nostalgia over the edges”, is our third one, during the last decade. It is an amalgamation of artworks by Tibetan Artists from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Lhasa Tibet, who are masters Artists or less well known yet emerging Artists. The Exhibition retraces a special era in Human history, which profoundly challenged Tibetan Artists, have exorcised a challenge by making the great movement in Tibetan Art, from the traditional and the strict religious into the modern; with their canvases using all kind of media, mastering abstraction and surrealism, extracting sacred symbols from their religious environment, able to challenge today’s world. It is a new generation of Tibetan Artists sharing with the family and elders, nostalgic times in Tibet, before the Chinese invasion; yet sharing the experience of those days of invasion in Tibet, when China gained full control over it and the historical event of 1959 mass exodus of 150,00 Tibetans, including the leader of Tibet 14th Dalai Lama into the diaspora. It was during that exodus, when the genesis of a new form of Tibetan Art happened. This situation allowed the immigrants to raise interest on their country’s Art, History and Culture. When the social reality of life in Tibet disillusioned, Artists started to self-express and explore their new complex identity. During their stay in the historic capital of Lhasa, they were also forced to abandon the traditional religious subjects and be trained in the techniques of the West, in such a style, that would serve the new political agenda. When Tibetan structure was dissolved and questions arose on globalization, highly affected the identity of the Tibetans of the Diaspora. Until then, historical Tibetan Art followed the stereotype of traditional Thangka painting and was supposed to spread to the world the Tibetan religious Art and Culture, which was served as the transmission of their religion. Bordered by the treacherous Himalayan mountain range, the Tibetan Art since 8th century, functionally served to support the religious life of the community. Furthermore, in the era of the Cultural Revolution between 1966-1976, when China’s PLA destroyed temples and religious monuments including Potala Palace, the Western perception for Tibet changed from being an inaccessible dream land, to being a danged one, in a potential lost world; Interested in the preservation of the Traditional culture, unique Tibetan Artistic styles sprang, dealing not only with cultural complexities and identity, but with painting and sculptures, depicting peaceful Buddhas, Buddhist deities, Tibetan motives and landscapes; bringing Buddhas amongst humans, making the traditional esoteric accessible to the public, with advanced ideas and aspirations. Now the Art becomes a fusion of Tibetan and Western Art and a new Art Movement exists, aiming for a synthesis of religion and philosophy. Western people were enamored with the idea of Tibet; in their imagination it looked as a complete embodiment of a sacred utopia, free of any kind of violence, while the influential Helena Blavatsky at the late of 19th century initiated a new age, a time of adoration and enthusiasm of Tibet, where ideas about Tibet were flourishing; casting Tibet as a place remarkably different from the Christian West, while developing a deeper understanding of religion, philosophy and science rooted in Shigatse Tibet. The utopia of Shangri-La was described as peaceful, spiritual and as a primitive exotic place. From such a place a new Art springs, which has the potential to be embraced and give its fruition to the whole world, inspired by social, political and cultural success, referred not only to the Tibetan Artists but to Chinese Artists, living in Tibet too. Depicting a mystical rich atmosphere, coming from old traditions even harsh circumstances. Artists hope and motivation is based on a future they can only imagine and eagerly, make an effort to help create a new world which would preserve all the best of the past; a future of inspirations based on their cultural heritage, to form Contemporary Tibetan Art at the threshold of the 21st century. V The Tibet Art Now 3.0 “Nostalgia over the Edges” is captivating works relevant to the changed Tibetan world. It is a touching exhibition which fulfills Museum’s of Contemporary Tibetan Art mission. It is organized in three parts. The front part is dedicated to “Gedun Choephel Artists’Guild”, bearing the name of Tibet’s first revoluntary Artist and Monk Gedun Choepel, featuring the work of Tibetan and Chinese Artists, who united, formed a gallery and exhibition space, in the heart of the historical capital of Tibet Lhasa; presenting contemporary expressions of Tibetan Art. The 2nd part refers to the “Bhotsun Art” space works of an underground Art gallery in Lhasa, where Artists fairly, present the combination of modern and traditional Tibetan. The third part is dedicated to the “Artists in Diaspora” who bring up queries, quests and a dialogue regarding land and identity and a nostalgia of a mystic land never visited by most of them with a nostalgia for the good old days before the invasion in their land. Manifesting and marking the ethnic cultural art with a tendency away from the narrative, but towards abstraction and contemporary. In “Gedun Choepel Artists’ Guild” space, you meet the significant self-expression of Artists who keep up with our times and trends but they have not escaped from the traditional and the values of their cultural heritage. Get to meet the Artist Zhungde, who depicts peasants under the night sky with eyes shining with an inner light, in a phenomenon of darkness, presenting naivety and loneliness in the Tibetan landscape with an influence rooted in the original nomads of Tibet. Yak Tseten applies surrealistic elements and gestural strokes to imprint the spirit and movements of the Tibetan yak, reflecting the beauty of extreme tension and moment, through the indigenous animal’s dramatic motions. Penpa’s painting becomes a vehicle to an authentic depiction of simple form of entertainment in the Tibetan landscape, exploring universal values such as love, friendship, freedom.