Luxation I (Primary Title)
Tsherin Sherpa, born 1968 (Artist)
Son and student of a master Tibetan painter, Tsherin Sherpa left Nepal in the 1980s for California. The title of this work, made after the catastrophic 2015 Nepal earthquake, means dislocation or displacement. It references that disaster’s devastation as well as the cultural dislocation experienced by the artist and all Tibetans. Sixteen pieces of an image of the Buddhist deity Vajrabhairava are assembled into a composition whose small gaps are like chasms of missing information. The result is a vision mirroring the unenlightened viewer’s confusion: particular elements are recognizable, but their sum and true significance is unclear. The journey plotted by this exhibition leads to a confrontation with Vajrabhairava, the wrathful emanation of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, whose purpose is to help us conquer our most deeply seated anxiety.
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