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Tsherin Sherpa (b. 1968, Kathmandu; lives and works in San Francisco); Untitled, 2010; gouache,…
Untitled
Tsherin Sherpa (b. 1968, Kathmandu; lives and works in San Francisco); Untitled, 2010; gouache,…
Tsherin Sherpa (b. 1968, Kathmandu; lives and works in San Francisco); Untitled, 2010; gouache, acrylic and gold leaf on museum board; Rubin Museum of Art; SC2010.31; photography by David De Armas, Rubin Museum of Art, 2013

Untitled

Artist Tsherin Sherpa b. 1968, Kathmandu; lives and works in San Francisco
Date2010
Dimensions37 1/8 × 30 1/8 in.
MediumGouache, acrylic and gold leaf on museum board
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art
Object numberSC2010.31
Project Himalayan Arthttps://projecthimalayanart.rubinmuseum.org/object-essays-introduction/
DescriptionTsherin Sherpa trained in traditional thangka painting beginning at a young age and worked as a professional thangka painter early in his career. His recent contemporary art practice integrates traditional aesthetic and symbolic principles with fantastical motifs and juxtapositions. In this work two bodhisattvas face each other wearing gas masks and stand in front of a skull filled with smaller colorful skulls. The work confronts the disparities between notions of death in Tibetan Buddhism and Western cultures, since in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition death is not feared but accepted and attachment to the ego is seen as the ultimate obstacle to enlightenment. The bodhisattvas in Sherpa’s work wear traditional ornaments and garb, but in contrast to a more conventional portrayal of these figures who have compassionately delayed their own enlightenment for humankind, here they appear as soldiers prepared for battle, with their muscles flexed and fists clenched. The work seems to ask what kinds of obstacles bodhisattvas must conquer in the modern age in order for humankind to attain enlightenment.
Not on view