Tibet’s embattled Buddhist academy finds resurrection at New York exhibit

TRICYCLE
By Tenzin Dorjee

Larung Gar – 05 by Gyatso Chuteng. Acrylic on canvas

Larung Gar, the largest Buddhist academy in the world, has long been a reluctant theater for the unceasing struggle between Tibetan spirituality and Beijing’s brutality. This embattled mountain hermitage in eastern Tibet is the subject of a New York art show currently on view at Tibet House. Using several thousand fragments of incense sticks, Gyatso has painstakingly produced aerial views of the thousands of mud dwellings that populate Larung Gar—each work resembling an architectural mandala. The completed Larung Gar series is now on view at Tibet House through July 26. Essence also features the works of Japanese artist Yasuko Ota alongside those of Gyatso Chuteng. [More]

Larung Gar – 02 by Gyatso Chuteng. Incense and acrylic on canvas