Contemporary Masters from the Land of Chinggis Khaan
December 1, 2011 – February 15, 2012
Opening Reception: December 1, 2011
For more than two thousand years the Mongols have dominated the center of the Silk Road. Here, under the guidance of the great Khaans like Genghis and Kublai, the ancient traditions of shamanism and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism merged into a profound stream. The vast influence of Mongolia on Euro-Asian civilization is only now being fully appreciated.
Tibet House is delighted to join in the celebration of this inspiring and magical legacy by hosting an exhibition with some of Mongolia’s greatest young artists whose works bring together the integrity of tradition and the creative impulse of the contemporary aesthetic.
These celebrated artists include Gankhuyag Natsag, whose paintings, statues and traditional lama dance masks have shown in more than a dozen cities around the world; D. Soyolmaa, renowned for bringing the clarity and precision of traditional Buddhist art into a contemporary ambiance; T. Nurmaa, famed for her ability to capture on canvas the radiance and raw intensity of the Mongolian spirit; D. Bulgantuya, an acclaimed artist who has received rave reviews in Sofia, Budapest, Warsaw, Kiev, and Vienna; and Ts. Bolor, especially known for her “aesthetics of the feminine.”
ARTISTS
Gankhuyag Natsag, or Ganna, as he is known to his friends, is one of Mongolia’s most internationally renowned artists. His paintings, statues and traditional lama dance masks have shown in more than a dozen cities around the world, including New York, Paris, Houston, and Singapore. He is considered a national treasure of Mongolia, and is the first to re-establish the complete tradition of 108 lama temple dance masks and costumes, or tsam, since its closure and destruction by the Communists in 1937. The exhibition will include a dozen of Ganna’s spectacular tsam masks.
Soyolmaa Davaakhuu is the 2008 recipient of Mongolia’s prestigious “Female Artist of the Year” award. Exhibitions of her paintings have been hosted in half a dozen North American cities, including Atlanta, Chicago and New York. A dozen of her works are in the permanent collection of the Rubin Museum of Art in NY. She is especially renowned for bringing the clarity and precision of traditional Buddhist art into a contemporary ambiance.
Nurmaa Tuvdendorj, Mongolia’s 2006 winner of “Female Artist of the Year Award,” has received equal international acclaim, especially in Europe, where her work is frequently on show. Nurmaa is famed for her ability to capture on canvas the radiance and raw intensity of the Mongolian spirit.
Bulgantuya Dechindorj another of Mongolia’s internationally acclaimed female artists, and the 2007 recipient of Mongolia’s “Female Artist of the Year Award,” has shown extensively throughout Europe, where her work received rave reviews in Sofia, Budapest, Warsaw, Kiev, and Vienna.
Bolor Tsevelsuren is especially known among young Mongol artists for her “aesthetics of the feminine.” Her works have been included in numerous international exhibitions, including “Feminine Visions: A New York / Ulaanbaatar Art Extravaganza. Her use of the swastika in many of her painting recalls the shaman legend that originally humans were made of stone. Then Ekh Tengir, “The Great Sky,” threw down a bolt of lightning. The lightning struck one of the stone humanoids, bringing it to life. The place where the lightning had struck became forever marked by a swastika. From then until today the swastika has remained a sacred symbol to shamans as the very source and mark of spirit and of life.
Uranberkh Magsarmaa is the winner of Mongolia’s “Golden Brush Award.” His works have shown in numerous galleries around Asia. He comes to New York from a recent showing in China.
This exhibition has been generously supported by the William Hinman Foundation
