Himalayan Art Now exhibition with 32 artists to commence in in New York mid-March

The Rubin Museum of Art presents “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now,” a Museum-wide group show of 32 contemporary artists from the Himalayas, Asia, and diaspora whose work is presented in dialogue with objects from the Rubin Museum’s collection.

Ina press release issued on Friday, Rubin Museum of Art said that as a highlight of the Rubin’s 20th-anniversary year, the exhibition features 23 new commissions as well as recent work across mediums – including painting, sculpture, sound, video, installation, and performance – that reimagine the forms, symbols, and narratives found within the living cultural heritage of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and other Himalayan regions. The artists, many of whom are exhibiting in the United States for the first time, explore the continuum of the cultures that shape their identities, merging past with present into one space, and posing questions about the potential for transformation today. The exhibition will be presented throughout the entire Museum and represents the Rubin’s largest engagement thus far with contemporary artists. “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now” be showcased from March 15 to October 6, 2024, and is curated by Michelle Bennett Simorella, Director of Curatorial Administration & Collections at the Rubin Museum of Art; Tsewang Lhamo, artist and founder of Yakpo Collective (New York); and Roshan Mishra, Director of the Taragaon Next (Nepal).

Interspersed throughout the Museum’s six floors and set alongside objects from the Rubin’s permanent collection are 50 artworks from a group of multigenerational, living artists working in Bhutan, Canada, China, England, France, India, Japan, Nepal, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tibet, and the United States. Connecting them are symbols and stories from Himalayan cultural heritage that the artists reimagine to express who they are and the important ideas that continue to shape them. Their works explore the complexity of cultural and gender identity; the effects of displacement, migration, and technology; and the question of what it means to belong, asking what cultural norms should be held onto and what should be swept away. In their evolving self-examination, the artists speak to an acceptance of fluidity as a means to move forward, the museum said.

Many artists in the exhibition explore the nature of human existence. LuYang examines the Buddhist concept of the self as their avatar walks through a 3D animation of the Wheel of Life. Prithvi Shrestha’s paintings explore the rising effects of technology and the interconnectedness of all things, and artist Roshan Pradhan reimagines a “New World” where robots replace the male in the union of male and female energy, which according to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, strikes a balance in the existence. Gender equality and fluidity emerge as central concerns with artists Uma Bista and Tenzin Mingyur Paldron respectively. In their new video commission, Power, Masculinity and Mindfulness, Tenzin Mingyur Paldron explores the fluidity of gender, which they argue has been represented in images of Tibetan figures such as Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and their own experience of coming out as transgender to their parents. In Uma Bista’s photo series Stay Home, Sisters, the artist bravely explores societal restrictions surrounding menstrual taboos in Nepal and the lasting effects these cultural practices have on women, the statement said. Other artists in “Reimagine” reflect on their voluntary and involuntary diasporic experience, with commissions that invite reflection on the movement of people and objects and subsequent change of culture and identity. IMAGINE (a.k.a. Sneha Shrestha)’s immersive, site-specific installation serves as both a devotional space and place of belonging, incorporating personal ritual objects she brought with her from Nepal and Rubin Museum collection objects. The walls of her installation feature her repetitive pattern of Devanagari script that meshes Sanskrit scripture with graffiti aesthetics, which is also repeated in a window installation that greets visitors before they enter the Museum. Humor and the theme of belonging are present in Tenzin Gyurmey Dorjee’s paintings about separation and loneliness, while fantasy and play feature prominently in the sculptures by Shushank Shrestha that reimagine characters that are part of his cultural heritage.