The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY-New Paltz is pleased to present Anonymous, an exhibition of contemporary Tibetan art featuring more than 50 works of painting, sculpture, installation, and video art by 27 artists living in Tibet and in diaspora.
Realized by guest curator Rachel Perera Weingeist, senior advisor to the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, the exhibition is largely drawn from the Rubins’ private collection. Many works will be on view to the public for the first time, some made exclusively for the exhibition. The show, which opened July 20, runs through Dec. 15.
Anonymous seeks to explore the tension between an ancient culture’s unbroken artistic tradition and the personality-driven world of contemporary art. Anonymity and self-expression are commonly polarized values and artistic goals within the global art market.
In traditional Tibetan art, a formal system of art production 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.
As Weingeist explained, “It is only roughly in the last 10 years that a contemporary Tibetan visual culture has galvanized. Concepts of anonymity, authorship and self-representation are still very much in flux. By and large there is trepidation and reserved acceptance of this new introspective visual culture.”
Video art plays a pivotal role in the exhibition, giving viewers access to rarely seen expressions of Tibetan life and culture. The museum is located at 1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz. For more information, visit newpaltz.edu/museum, or call (845) 257-3844.
