We recently had the honor of visiting the studio of Pema Rinzin as he was preparing for his solo exhibition entitled Compassion Transformed, which opens January 27 at the Joshua Liner Gallery. Rinzin is a master of traditional Tibetan Thangka painting and also founder of the New York Tibetan Art Studio, where he passes on his knowledge and skill. However, he came onto AM’s radar last Spring, when a trio of his works on paper stood out from Joshua Liner’s Barnstormers show as some of the most intriguing and accomplished new art we’d seen in a while.
Although he still uses the hand-prepared mineral and organic pigments and painting techniques of Thangka, Rinzin has evolved his own contemporary style, creating stunning abstract compositions equally inspired by Western artists such as Kandinsky and Klimt as by Eastern art. During our visit, we were once again struck by the amazing colors, patterns and textures of Rinzin’s paintings, especially those of his new “Lost Portrait” series, which although abstract, are vaguely figurative. Take a look at all the images from our studio visit, after the jump.
