Puntsok Tsering (Tibet)and Chirag Bangdel (Nepal)

in Dutch gallery CHAUTARA
     
A voice in difficult times       A way to exile                      Ganesh                                 Gelb Pipal

Phuntsok Tsering                 Phuntsok Tsering                 Chirag Bangdel                     Chirag bangdel

Modern Tibetan calligraphy and small-format collages from Nepal will be
shown in CHAUTARA art gallery in Almere, Netherlands. The gallery was set up
in mid 2006 in th modern town situated about 30km from Amsterdam with the
intention to promote modern art from the Himalayas and increase
international exposure for young artists from Nepal and its neighbouring
countries. After showing Manish Lal Shrestha and the Kasthamandap Artist
Group, all from Kathmandu, the gallery is now opening a duo-exposition
featuring Puntsok Tsering from Tibet and Chirag Bandgel from Nepal in a show
titled: "Kathmandu meets Lhasa".

On Sunday February 25th, from 11 AM to 3 PM the opening of this new
exposition will take place in the modern and light-infused premises of
CHAUTARA. Artist Puntsok Tsering will be attending the opening and will give
a short talk on his work. Nepali artist Chirag Bangdel has done a
commissioned work of 15 small-format collage-type sheets in which he used
prayer flags as one of the components.

Both artists work from a position of great appreciation for their respective
artistic traditions and both are able to interpret these traditions in a
formidable modern way. Puntsok Tsering, born 1976 in Central Tibet, was
trained extensively in Tibetan calligraphy and poetry, partly by his own
grandfather.  In 1998 he moved to Germany where he is working as a painter
and teacher and where he has shown his work on a regular basis. He says
about his work: " I use handmade German, Japanese or Himalayan paper,
fragments of brochures, newspapers - which I layer, line up, cover with each
other and then write over with Tibetan poems, words or signs. I do not draw
primarily on Tibetan-Buddhist symbolism, but rather on the "normal" signs
and signals of every-day life which I then contrast with statements from
Buddhist epistemology".

Chirag Bangdel, born 1971 in Kathmandu, is a painter, writer, poet, and
radio presenter. He is the nephew of the great Lain Sing Bangdel, Nepals
foremost modern painter (the "Picasso" of Nepal) and has gained much respect
for his art in the last ten years showing in the most important galleries in
Nepal. Over his new series "Tattva" he says himself: "I was born a Hindu,
but I have always had a fascination for Buddhism. Observing prayer flags
fluttering over landscapes is such a spiritual and peaceful experience, but
a prayer flag itself carries a deep sense of mystery, which is why I have
used prayer flags in my new works. And prayer flags are found in five colors
to represent Pancha Tattva, or the five elements that we are made up of."

This very special exhibition will be shown for a period of three to four
months in CHAUTARA art gallery, Edvard Munchweg 107e, 1328MK Almere. It can
be seen during the regular opening hours (Friday 10:00-17:30, Saturday
11:00-15:00, first Sunday of the month 11:00-15:00).