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In late February, Tibetan artist Ang Tsherin Sherpa spent a week at CU-Boulder, engaging students and community members alike with his experiences as an artist in one of the newest fields of Asian art history, contemporary Himalayan art.   The Center for Asian Studies provided significant support for Tsherin’s campus visit as part of its ‘Mediating Asia’ series.

As a Tibetan born and raised in exile, Tsherin’s life and artistic production is representative of the discovery process many Himalayan contemporary artists experience: how to negotiate cultural expectations, engage the pressures that globalization places on traditional cultures, and develop an identity as an individual as well as within the cacophonous contemporary art world.

Tsherin’s work directly engages with how traditions are changed and transformed through media: how do ‘outsiders’ impact the creation of Tibetan art, both traditional and contemporary? What about the expectations of viewers who come from inside Himalayan cultures? How will Tibetan culture engage with the political and social realities of the modern world? In his words:

“My works have always been an attempt to bridge sacred and secular, icon and ordinary and past history and contemporary. As nomadic people, we Tibetans seem to possess the ability to adapt into many different environments. As our culture merges with others, I'm curious how we will maintain and celebrate our unique essence while at the same time evolving.”

Tsherin was one of the artists selected for the exhibition Anonymous: Contemporary Tibetan Art, and through his lectures and class talks, shared personal insights into his creative process and artistic trajectory.  On February 24th, approximately 180 people attended Tsherin’s Visiting Artist Lecture in the Visual Arts Complex auditorium, where he recounted his training in traditional painting, which he received from his father beginning at age 12. After two decades of working in conventional styles, Tsherin shifted to contemporary modes of representation, catalyzed in part by the economic crisis of 2008.

In addition to his public talk, Tsherin guest lectured in two advanced undergraduate seminars: ARTS 4118, where he shared insight into his techniques and process with twenty fine arts students; and fifteen students enrolled in ARTH 4919, which is dedicated to the study of contemporary Himalayan art.  In both courses, Tsherin revealed some of the rationale behind his artworks in addition to his perspectives on the explosive growth that contemporary Tibetan art has experienced in the last decade.

Tsherin also participated in the What Follows interview series, wherein a faculty member holds discussion with a visiting artist while Journalism students and staff professionally records their conversation.  Tsherin’s interview will be made available on DVD for limited circulation by the end of spring semester, providing a permanent record of his visit and a resource for future scholarship.