Dorsky Museum presents “Anonymous,” an exhibit of contemporary Tibetan art

Dorsky Museum presents “Anonymous,” an exhibit of contemporary Tibetan art

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT

Rabkar Wangchuk, "Spiritual Mind and Modern Technology," 2013. Image courtesy Samuel Dorsky Museum.

A rare exhibit of contemporary Tibetan art will be on display later this year at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York, New Paltz. The show, entitled Anonymous, features more 50 works of painting, sculpture, installation, and video art by 27 artists living in Tibet and in diaspora. These will include many works from the private collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin (founders of New York's Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art) never before exhibited. The show opens July 20 and runs through December 15.
According to curator Rachel Perera Weingeist, "It is only roughly in the last ten years that a contemporary Tibetan visual culture has galvanized." The museum's press material further explains:

"Anonymity and self-expression are commonly polarized values and artistic goals within the global art market. In traditional Tibetan art, artistic craft was used to support the transmission of Buddhist culture.  In the present atmosphere, however, art is becoming a vital medium of self-expression for Tibetans—increasingly, artists are creating work focused on the individual. A cautious 21st century visual language steeped in irony, metaphor, and allusion has fully emerged."

Click here to see representative images from the Anonymous exhibit, and get info on attendant programs such as a lecture by Columbia professor Robert Thurman on October 21.
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“Bones of the Buddha” to air on PBS in late July

Posted: 28 Jun 2013 01:00 PM PDT

PBS is again offering appointment TV revolving around the Buddha. (You may recall director David Grubin's 2010 epic, Richard Gere-narrated documentary, The Buddha, which traced the journey of Prince Siddhartha from opulent palace life to full spiritual awakening.) On Tuesday, July 23, a new episode in the series Secrets of the Dead, entitled "Bones of the Buddha," will air from 10 to 11 p.m. EST (check your local listings), preceded by a rebroadcast of The Buddha from 8 to 10 p.m. EST.
"Bones of the Buddha" tells the tale of rival archaeologists and whether a casket they unearthed contains some of the actual remains of Shakyamuni Buddha as enshrined in a stupa in India nearly 2,600 years ago. Historian Charles Allen (who penned a fascinating book on amateur British Orientalists of the Raj, The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Uncovered India's Lost Religion) leads viewers deep into the mystery of whether these relics are an elaborate hoax or an authentic, priceless treasure.

Watch Bones of the Buddha — Preview