Sakya Resource Guide is Temporarily Down

The SRG is down because the hosting company is doing some major changes to their infrastructure. Unfortunately I do not have a mirror site, so, that means SRG is down for up to a few days. They say maybe up to five. For those avid SRG viewers all I can recommend is that you spend a little time with the HAR site. I know it is a meager substitute but it is all I can suggest. On HAR look especially to the News page because this month, April, and it's only the 15th, there have already been thirty-four (34) news items uploaded. If you can get through all of those in the next few days while SRG is down then I will be impressed. Because, it is not just that there are 34 items, it is because there are numerous new pages added for each of those News items. It really is a lot of material not to mention the hundreds of new images that have gone up to accompany the News items.

Now, the reason for the goat? Well, the mountain goat picture was taken some years ago outside of a small cave that clings precariously onto a cliff a few hundred feet above my cabin in the mountains. You can tell by the beautiful white fur that it was the fall. I am actually going to the cabin tomorrow. If I see anymore mountain goats then I will surely take a photo. Usually at this time of year I see more moose and elk. I hope a bear hasn't gotten into my supplies. Usually they are too quick to photograph especially if you come across one on a path - they usually bolt for the cover of underbrush and forest. The bears at the cabin are quite wild and not as familiar with people.

Compassion Transformed - Pema Rinzin in Chelsea

The First Tibetan Contemporary Solo Show in Chelsea, New York.
Opening: Jan 27th 2010 ( 06:00 PM to 09:00 PM)
Location: Joshua Liner Art Gallery
Artist: Pema Rinzin
Title: Compassion Transformed.

For those of you who were at the first showing of Pema's work at the Joshua Liner Gallery in March of 09 and those who were also at the Rubin Museum of Art for the Tibetan Contemporary exhibition in the Spring - Get Ready! This new solo exhibition will blow the roof off. It is a must see. Mark it in your calendars and tell your friends. It will be a happening not to be missed. See you all there.

--- Jeff

The text below is copied from Artlog:

"Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Compassion Transformed, an exhibition of new paintings by the New York-based Tibetan artist Pema Rinzin. Making his solo debut in New York, this is Rinzin’s first one-man exhibition at Joshua Liner Gallery. A master in the art of Thangka painting, Pema Rinzin has adapted... Read more

Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Compassion Transformed, an exhibition of new paintings by the New York-based Tibetan artist Pema Rinzin. Making his solo debut in New York, this is Rinzin’s first one-man exhibition at Joshua Liner Gallery.

A master in the art of Thangka painting, Pema Rinzin has adapted the techniques and mystical motifs of this centuries-old Buddhist tradition to create spellbinding abstract works of contemporary art. Originally used in scrolls that depict the life of the Buddha, other deities, and religious figures, traditional Thangka featured the use of ground mineral pigments and gold applied to paper or silk cloth, as well as works in embroidery. Thangkas were objects of meditation, stimulation and religious education. The imagery is characterized by great intricacy in decorative pattern and brilliant color, which serve to advance the spiritual objectives of enlightenment and transcendence, while also conveying the artistic vision of individual master painters through unique expressions of style and composition.

In his stunning abstractions, Rinzin demonstrates how the individual artist can place his own stamp on a traditional form—he both transforms and transcends classical Thangka, while preserving its ancient artmaking techniques. His Peace and Energy series includes four large works on canvas that present a compelling image for contemplation: in each, a dynamic embolus of layered “handkerchief ” forms hums at the center of each picture against a traditional monochromatic background of bright orange, purple, white, or yellow. The fluttering, interlocking forms are thoroughly contemporary, but each carries a unique pattern derived from the ancient Buddhist traditions, and the whole is shot through with pulsing striped flames of blue, white, black, and gold.

In Rinzin’s Water series of four large works, these flames become an intricate network of liquid-like wave forms. This design is oriented vertically to carry upward an interpenetrating pattern of elaborate decoration, itself suggesting both sea foam and the blossoming of cherry trees. Rinzin’s Lost Portraits, however, take an entirely different tack.This series of three large works foregrounds the contemporary in hard-edged abstractions of classic Buddhist figures, each rendered in hot colors and spattered with sumi ink. Up close, the shattered facets comprising the figures reveal delicate patterns from both traditional Thangka and contemporary design. Compassion Transformed will also feature a variety of smaller works on paper.

As a young painter growing up in Dharamsala, India, Rinzin studied with Kalsang Oshoe, Khepa Gonpo, Rigdzin Paljor, and other master artists, but his work is equally inspired by Western art history, including such influ- ences as Gustav Klimt, Wassily Kandinsky, and William Blake. During his residency at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, Rinzin gained notice with his inclusion in the Rubin’s 2010 group exhibition Tradition Transformed, the city’s first museum exhibition of contemporary Tibetan artists.

“After moving to New York, I was immediately exposed to street- and former graffiti artists,” says Rinzin.“They inspired me in their works with everyday life and raw emotion. Now, my art is really about my own life journey, which I strongly express in my compositions and abstract forms.”

Born in 1966 in Tibet and raised in India, Pema Rinzin received a degree in Tibetan Traditional Thangka Painting and Fine Art from Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) Painting School in Dharamsala, India (where he also taught) and was twice honored “Best Tibetan Thangka Painter” (1979 and 1981); he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Solo exhibitions of his work include: Tibetan Fine Art Exhibition, Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany (2005); Photo and Color Exhibition, Tibetan Art and Color Studio, Wurzburg, Germany (2001); Tibetan Fine Art Exhibition, Hobbit Theatre, Wurzburg, Germany (1999); and First Tibetan Fine Art Exhibition, Alexander- Schroeder-Haus, Wurzburg, Germany (1996). Selected group exhibitions include: Tradition Transformed, Rubin Museum of Art, New York and The Barnstormers, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York (2010); and Big! Himalayan Art, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, TX (2008) and Rubin Museum of Art, New York (2007). His Sixteen Giant Paintings are on permanent display at the Shoko-ji Cultural Research Institute, Nagano, Japan. From 2005 to 2008, Rinzin was artist-in-residence at the Rubin Museum of Art, and in 2007 he founded the New York Tibetan Art Studio, the only studio in the Western Hemisphere dedicated to the teaching and preservation of Tibetan art in both traditional and contemporary forms.

Joshua Liner Gallery, located in New York City’s Chelsea arts district, presents an exciting roster of established and emerging artists from North America, Asia, and Europe."

For more information, please visit www.joshualinergallery.com, or contact Tim Strazza at 212.244.7415 or tim@joshualinergallery.com."

Joshua Liner Gallery
548 West 28th Street,
New York, New York, 10001
Phone: (212) 244-7415
Email: info@joshualinergallery.com
Hours: Tuesday- Saturday 11-6PM

San Francisco, Berkeley to be Exact!

I'm sitting in a very nice room in a university guest house here in Berkeley and trying out Open Office software. So far I have only tried Presentation but it seems to work just as well with just as many features as Power Point from Microsoft. I'll continue to play with it and give it a test drive.

The weather here is great, sunny, warm, fresh. They say it will begin to turn for the worse tomorrow with cooler weather and rain by the weekend. Oh well, it still feels good to me.

Art Lecture: San Francisco, November 18th, 2010

In conjunction with Himalayan Pilgrimage: Journey to the Land of Snows, on view through April 24, 2011.

- Lecture: Traditional Tibetan Art - Beyond Iconography and Religion
Confusions & Conflicts Regarding Late Tibetan Painting Styles
- Jeff Watt
- Thursday, November 18, 5 p.m.
- Museum Theater: UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2625 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-2250

(Image: Unidentified artist, Tibet: One of seven in a set of thangkas of the great fifth Dalai Lama and his lineage, c. 1815; from the Collection of Veena and Peter Schnell).

"In this illustrated lecture, Jeff Watt, leading scholar of Himalayan art, provocatively proposes that the study of Tibetan and Himalayan art rely more on art history—on artists and critics as well as art historian—than on iconography, religious studies, and even Tibetology. According to Watt, “Cultural objects can be religious icons when looked at as religious icons, ritual objects when viewed as ritually related, and art objects when viewed as art. The subject of Tibetan religion will still remain the domain of religious studies. The study of history will remain the domain of historians, and iconography will remain the domain of iconographers. None of this will change, but to move forward, the study of Tibetan art must change."

"Jeff Watt was the founding curator and leading scholar at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York — one of the largest collections of Himalayan and Tibetan art in North America — from 1999 until 2007. He is the director and chief curator of Himalayan Art Resources, a website and virtual museum that constitutes the world’s most comprehensive resource for Himalayan art and iconography. Watt acquired his prodigious knowledge of Buddhist, Bon and Hindu iconography from a longtime study of Buddhism and Tantra."

Back from Chengdu - Hong Kong Airport

Well the trip is over. I could have stayed much longer. I had a place to sleep, roof, hot water, food and good company. The China Travel Blog has now been illustrated with some snap shots from here and there. I did very little in the way of photography on this trip - some art. Many collectors didn't want their pieces photographed. There was a lot more conversation on this trip than there was quick action camera play.

I am currently sitting in the Hong Kong airport - Cathay Business Lounge "the Cabin" - watching the planes come and go while I catch up with e-mail and uploading the decorative images to the Travel site. They have three Cathay Business Class Lounges at the Hong Kong airport.

It seems I am flying coach back to NY. I tried to upgrade with air miles but they don't have any openings. Oh well, it will be fine. The exit row aisle seat is actually very comfortable and allows me to stretch my legs out and trip all who walk by - especially after they turn all the lights out.

The image above is one of the buildings within the large Taoist Temple complex in Chengdu. The Panda photo is not mine but rather borrowed from the web. Chengdu is the main city closest to the Panda sanctuaries and also the gateway to Tibet.

Hong Kong Bound

It is time once again to travel east (actually north over the pole) to Hong Kong. I have upgraded my standard coach seating with Asia Miles and will be flying Business Class. The seat will be larger although my shoulders will touch the walls of the coffin like designed cubicle. The seat fully reclines into a horizontal configuration allowing me to extend my feet into the aisle tripping the flight attendants in the dark - oh yes, it gets very dark on those flights. The monitor will be bigger, the food will be noticeably better than coach, and the attendants are very pleasant and willing to get you what ever is needed. It is very important to bring your own noise reduction headphones. This is even more important than flying business class. Once you have tried flying with them you will wonder why you didn't do it before. The greatest invention since flight itself. I use Bose headphones but there are others.

The only real fear (other than the obvious) is that the movies offered for viewing will be films I have already seen on other recent flights. Cathay does try and show some films only on east bound flights and other films only on west bound flights. I do intend to sleep as much as possible, something I don't do easily on planes except if they are sitting on the tarmac or taxing prior to take-off. I do like to sleep through the take-off. Jolted from a sound sleep I realized I was just paged by the front desk at the lounge and that I had been fast asleep. Actually I had been sleeping for a full hour with the computer in my lap. Last night was a late one with only an hours sleep. This was done on purpose to help get into the Chengdu time change as quickly as possible. It is likely that I will sleep right through breakfast on the plane unless I tell them to wake me - which I will.

Boy Believed to be Next Reincarnation....

I thought this was really fun: Boy Believed to be Next Reincarnation.....

Whenever great cultures of the past, for example, Egyptian, Roman, or European Monarchies, start to look towards 'special' children as the divine answer for leadership and cultural guidance then more often than not that culture is heading towards decline and failure.

The increase and frequency of young children from Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist backgrounds (not to mention Western countries) - recognized as the supposed incarnation of so and so - is surely becoming alarming.

The Tibetan Buddhist phenomenon of tulku or trulku appears to have really become common place and widespread in the 17th century. The practice of recognizing a lama of the past as reincarnating into numerous individuals (splitting) appears to be a late 19th century phenomena - embraced and welcomed in the 20th century - popular today.

I think it is time for a level headed, measured, sociological study of the Tibetan practice of 'reincarnate teachers' known as tulku - literally 'emanation body' - the same word used for the Sanskrit word nirmanakaya.

1. What are the statistics showing the number of recognized incarnate children growing up to be educated Buddhist teachers?

2. What are the statistics showing the number of children that grow up to be teachers?

3. What are the statistics showing the number of children that remain Buddhist?

4. How many renounce their 'reincarnate status'?

4. How many take up business, or other secular occupations, as their life path?

5. .....convicted of crimes, etc.?

These are just a few of the basic questions which I think are fair game and worth asking.

The most interesting publication I have ever read on the subject of reincarnate Lamas was by Daniel Barlocher. I recommend it highly. The most interesting interviews come from the most unexpected Rinpoches. Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus; A Research among Reincarnate Buddhist Masters in Exile. Daniel Barlocher, Opuscula Tibetana, Rikon-Zurich, August 1982.

From the dozens of interviews see two excerpts from the above publication: Puntsok Podrang Dagchen Rinpoche and another conversation with Drolma Podrang Sakya Trizin both of the Sakya Tradition. I chose these only because they are currently available on line.

Back to New York!

My work here in Vancouver is done, Thanksgiving, closing up the cabin for the winter and attending my brother's 20 year clean and sober celebration - in the company of a hundred others. There are no upgrades tonight. I am in coach on Cathay Pacific which is equal to Business Class on any USA carrier in the continental US. It's not a criticism, just an observation.

Monday will be a busy day in New York. There are visitors from China that I need to meet and entertain. It is the last day of the Tibetan contemporary exhibition at the RMA, and, I also have a craving for Basta Pasta. The flight gets in early and I generally try and get a little sleep before going into the office. It will definitely be a long day.

Refuge Field Paintings Anybody?

Check out the Himalayan Art Resources News Page. There are plenty of new items - provided you have a slightly unnatural, overly curious, interest in Refuge Field paintings. These paintings are informed by religious texts, liturgies to be specific, but, and it is a big but, how they appear as paintings is entirely the result of the artists interpretation. What we see as the finished composition does not at all necessarily reflect the description in the liturgical text. That is certainly one reason why these paintings are so interesting.

Home for the Holidays, Thanksgiving!

Once again heading West to sunny Vancouver for the holiday. During the 80s and 90s I generally spent Thanksgiving up in the Thompson Plateau enjoying the cabin and getting ready for winter. The best time of the year in the mountains is April thru June and then September and October. The summer months can be very hot and not conducive to meditating or translating. Mid November is the average point for the first real snow and then after that it can accumulate pretty quickly. I remember one night going to sleep with the outside temperature at 25 F and waking up in the morning thinking the door had somehow come open. The outside temperature was -5 F. A nasty cold front had come through and stayed. Although usually the weather turns cooler and the winds start to come from the North in mid October - watch out past mid November. Thanksgiving is guaranteed good weather - global warming considered of course.

I hope to head up to the cabin on Tuesday or Wednesday morning and spend at least one night with a roaring fire, a gently splashing creek and a big wide starry sky. With luck I will be woken in the night by the howling of wolves or coyotes, maybe the nocturnal visit of a bear foraging in the dark. The water will be cold, there are 11 crossings. At this time of the year some of those crossings are shallow and there are enough large dry rocks to jump onto and cross without getting wet. If it is raining on the way up it is better to stay in the water for the crossings and avoid the slippery rocks. The last crossing is the most treacherous because it is the narrowest and therefore potentially the deepest water. The path must be picked carefully. Past that point it doesn't get any easier as there have been serious rock slides in the last ten years. Steep rock faces on the Western side rise over a thousand feet. Twenty minutes past that and the trail becomes easier although seriously over grown, especially in the last 10 years. The cabin is not so far after that, but if you don't know where it is, it will be very difficult to find.

Yes I have used the Mountain Goat image once before. The first post ever for this Travel Blog was decorated with this photo. I like it, but no it was not taken at the cabin. The largest animal I photographed at the cabin was a female moose and boy was it big. Never get in the way of a moose. The Mountain Goat was photographed several hundred feet above the cabin. I was meditating in a cave when I chanced to look across the gorge and saw a Mountain Goat looking directly at me - probably wondering what the hell I was doing. Snap, I took the photo.

End of Summer

(WARNING: the image has nothing to do with the content of the post below. It is merely being used to add colour and a sense of importance. The image is from a few years ago in 2008 (?) when the Karmapa from Dharamsala came to visit the Rubin Museum of Art and I was asked to give him a tour even though I no longer worked there since the prior summer of 2007. It was a choice of this image or one with me and Lobpon Tenzin Namdak. I didn't think anybody would know Tenzin Namdak except for those rare Bon followers and scholars. The Karmapa won the contest of recognizability).

Well, it is nearly the end of August and the end of summer according to a school calendar. It has been a very fast two weeks in Vancouver. The real reason for coming was to attend the IATS Conference - International Association of Tibetan Studies - held at the University of British Columbia (UBC). For me it began on Sunday the 15th and ended on the 22nd. It was long, it was grueling, mostly because of the difficult, over-lapping and confusing, schedule along with the required late night socializing - in modern language called networking. There were many people that I new and many people that new me or either the HAR or SRG websites. During the first few days it was easier being anonymous. HAR is very popular with the younger scholars. The Bon scholars were there in force and the Bon panel was excellent bolstered by the likes of Samten Karmey, Tsering Thar and Marc Des Jardins amongst others.

I was able to acquire some new images for the HAR website along with promises from others to send images. Some of the images have already been put up on the site. Check the HAR News page.

As I return to New York I must of course think about bedbugs. Yes, they are still there. The management company sprayed again on the 18th of August. Apparently there have been more complaints from tenants. I can understand as I have been talking about this since February, officially since March. As long as they think they can deal with a porous apartment building with topical applications of pesticide based on the subjective complaints of tenants then the problem will never be resolved. I return armed with good double sided sticky tape. I couldn't find any good tape in New York. The tape is crucial to my plan of survivability in a bed bug infested apartment building.

There have been a number of issues, topics and news items that have come up in the last few weeks that I have not responded to but they are things that I definitely want to react to - pro or con: the King of Shambhala living in Canada, the very harsh review of the Tibetan contemporary show at the Rubin Museum of Art, and various other things that will come to mind at the right moment.

"We Live In Hope"

What an uplifting article in yesterdays New York Times. I of course never open the newspaper unless a friend recommends an article of importance. Thank you Emma.

Have you ever thought to yourself that some paintings look better than others? I have been waging a personal battle now for several years where I believe that the study of Himalayan and Tibetan art has been hijacked by other academic disciplines such as Religious Studies (and the study of iconography), Anthropology and Ethnography. Here is an article about that exact same fight but in the European art world - data versus aesthetics and connoisseurship. Let the new battle begin.

A Beautiful Day In Vancouver

It was a beautiful clear day with a bright - deep - blue sky and flowers everywhere, summer flowers, and a bumble bee going about its business. The variations of green were especially soothing to the eye and healthy for the mind.

A Temporary Escape - Vancouver

I have made a quick exit and vacated my apartment while the workmen begin to replace the roof over head. On Friday they installed a temporary plastic ceiling in the apartment to try and catch all the falling debris, dirt and dust. It is not very attractive but hopefully will do the job it is intended for. In the process of closing up the apartment for the week or so that I will be away as they busily work, I noticed new brown water stains on the southern wall above one of the two windows on that side. I now have four known leaks. I have not been visited by any of the small pests since returning from Paris. I did have a red mark on my right arm the first night back, Wednesday, but can't say for sure that it was one of the nasty pests - known in Tibetan as 'demon lice.' I need a break, that's for sure.

The Christie's Auction in Paris on Tuesday was a mad house of activity and I have not yet landed - mentally - enough to begin to talk about it. After my Wednesday night sleep listening to the water drip from the ceiling into a bucket - not much sleep at all - I enjoyed the opening of the Tibetan Contemporary exhibition at the RMA. By the way, in my life, I have never before slept on a wet mattress because of leaks from the roof or ceiling. There was an after party at Merchant's restaurant with over 30 people in attendance. I hesitate to mention any names for fear of getting anyone into trouble. It was a good, no, great time, good friends and good conversations. Any opportunity to spend time with good friends is time well spent.

Tibetan Style Tattoos

Well I'm not into getting tattoos, piercings or brandings but I love Japanese tattoo art, Hawaiian, Maori, Thai, Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian. Yoni Zilbur, an artist as well as an accomplished New York tattoo artist has studied with Pema Rinzin for several years and now designs his own tattoos based on traditional Tibetan subjects, themes and motifs. Some of the images are really quite amazing. Check out Yoni's webpage to see Pema Rinzin's influence on the New York tattoo scene.

If It's Sunday, It Must Be Paris

I traveled on the airline known as Open Skies, apparently connected or owned by British Airways. The flight was quite comfortable although I always find that there is more turbulence flying to Europe than flying anywhere else. The day is somewhat unscheduled as yet. I need to find out when the Guimet is open and when Christie's is open. I am in a hotel just off the Champs Elysee and can walk to Christie's from here but I don't know where the Guimet is in comparison to the hotel. I will need a map and someone to circle both the hotel and the museum.

The hotel, Rochester Champs Elysee, has wifi internet throughout which is very convenient. Unfortunately the room will not be ready until 11:00. I didn't sleep at all on the plane and am afraid to take a nap as I think that will send a signal to my body and brain to completely shut down for a good eight to ten hours. As some may know, I have not been sleeping very well in the apartment of late. Friday night was also late with little sleep. I was out with a Tibetan painter and and an excellent New York tattoo artist that is a student of Pema Rinzin. I will post pictures as soon as I get some - preferably art, and good art at that.

The entire afternoon was spent at the Mussee Guimet and what a Museum it was. They had an outstanding Gandharan exhibition aside from their world class Cambodian sculpture and the permanent Tibetan and Himalayan galleries.

Introducing Tashi T. Dharlo to the World

Tashi was born on Wednesday morning, 12th of May. Both the mother and baby are fine. For those of you who know, Tenzin the mother has worked with me on the Himalayan Art Resources website here in New York city since the Spring of 2001. Congratulations to the mother and father and to the proud grand-parents and their new grand-son.

Funny English at its Best

Please check out this link from the New York Times.

These Chinese signs are really a lot of fun. Some of the images below are just snap shots I took on my last visit to China while visiting the Buddhist Temple at Dazu Grotto half way between the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing. I don't search out and collect these signs like some travelers I know but they really are fun when you come across them unexpectedly.




Please check out this link.