Sublime Worlds features artists Sonam Lhamo’s and Tiffani Gyatso’s highly emotive and imaginative mixed-media paintings. Their works reflect inner consciousness, spontaneity, practice and awareness, nurtured by Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, folklore and symbolism and the artists’ own spiritual journeys.
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Tibetan artist Sonam Lhamo (b. 1982) works primarily in oils to explore themes of existence, moments of inner consciousness, and emotional experience and awareness with dreamy forms in vivid colors. Her practice is informed by her Tibetan identity, deriving inspiration from nature and Buddhist imagery, tales and philosophy. Ms. Lhamo grew up in the Kardze Kham province of Tibet, where she lived before escaping to India in 1993. In 2007, the Tibet Museum in Dharamsala presented the first solo exhibition of Lhamo’s work. She has also exhibited at a number of international venues, including Maris De Lanrode in France (2007), L’Atelier Galerie Bleu, Lille (2007); India Habitat Centre, Delhi (2008); La Main Qui Parle, Paris (2008); and the International Center, New York (2010). Her work was included in the 2011 group show Tibetan Contemporary Art: Tantric Vision in Modern Self-Expression at Tibet House US.
Brazilian artist Tiffani Gyatso (b. 1981) was trained in traditional Tangka painting at the Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala, founded by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Gyatso’s recent practice involves collage-based works done using acrylic and pigment on books, newspapers and organic elements collected during her travels to (India, Tibet, China, Japan, Burma, Mexico, Germany and Brazil) give ordinary materials new meaning. These works incorporate Tibetan iconography and abstract figures, inspired by her own inner “gods and demons.” Ms. Gyatso grew up in Minas Gerais in Brazil, lived on a sailboat and in an aboriginal community in Australia, and in 2000 drove from Germany to Mongolia, where she was exposed to the art of thangka painting. Tiffani devoted five years to the painting of a Buddhist temple in Brazil and hosts thangka painting workshops as well as art tours in India and Nepal. In addition to numerous group exhibitions in Brazil, her work was the subject of the 2012 solo exhibition Mystic Nostalgia at Tibet House US.
