TENZING RIGDOL : CHANGE IS THE ETERNAL LAW

Rossi & Rossi proudly presents Change Is the Eternal Law, Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, and first solo show in Hong Kong. On view will be video works, collages, photographs and paintings by the classically trained artist.

The title of the exhibition references the first of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths—‘the eternal law’—dukkha, or suffering, which teaches us that all forms of life are both in flux and impermanent. In his work, Rigdol draws on traditional Buddhist and Tibetan iconography to highlight the suffering of Tibet and the challenges faced by its people. He thus calls attention to the endless stream of self-immolations, to the degradation of the Tibetan language within Tibet and also to the willful blindness of foreign governments and the media to the plight of the Tibetan people.

The exhibition will also unveil a monumental new work, the artist’s most ambitious painting to date. Landscape (2015), completed painstakingly in the artist’s unique pointillist-stroke method over the course of a year, demonstrates Rigdol’s masterful approach to painting and spotlights the chilling epidemic of self-immolations in Tibet.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Born in 1982 in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tenzing Rigdol studied art and art history at the University of Colorado, USA, and now lives and works in New York. His wide-ranging output includes painting, sculpture, drawing and collage, as well as digital, video-installation, performance art, and site-specific pieces. In 2011, the artist made international headlines for covertly Tenzing Rigdol, Identity, 2015, ink and acrylic on paper, 71 x 48 cm (28 x 19 in) transporting 20,000 kilograms of native Tibetan soil from Shigatse, Tibet, through Nepal, to Dharamsala, India, where he created a platform for exiled Tibetans to stand on home soil. This feat was recorded in the documentary, Bringing Tibet Home (2013), whose director, Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, won the award of the Jury des Jeunes Européens at the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in Biarritz and the Emerging Director Award at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, both in 2014. The film was also nominated for the Jury Award for Best Documentary at CAAMFest 2014 (formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival). In 2014, Rigdol participated in the Moscow Biennale for Young Artists, curated by David Elliott.

Widely exhibited internationally, Rigdol’s art is included in private and museum collections around the world. In 2014, he became one of only two contemporary Tibetan artists to be featured in the exhibition Tibet and India: Buddhist Traditions and Transformations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. His Pin drop silence: Eleven-headed Avalokitesvara (2013) was also the first work by a contemporary Tibetan artist to be acquired by the institution.

ROSSI & ROSSI 將非常榮幸地舉辦西藏藝術家丹增熱珠（Tenzing Rigdol）的第三場個人展《諸行無常》，這也是藝術家在香港的首次亮相。参展作品媒介包括錄像、拼貼、攝影和繪畫作品等。

展覽題目語出四聖諦——三界不變之真理——“苦”，或人類遭受的痛苦，勸誡人類，生命的各種形式皆在變動中，是暫時的。热珠在作品中運用西藏傳統圖像，強調西藏的境遇以及人民面對的挑戰，借此呼吁人們關注西藏持續的藏人自焚、藏区藏语的消失和外國政府与媒体對於藏人困境的视而不见等。

展覽還將展出一件大型新作：《風景》（2015），這是藝術家迄今為止尺幅最大的繪畫作品。藝術家以極其精細且費工的點畫方式勤勉創作一年有餘，不僅展現出其卓越的繪畫手法，也強調了流行於西藏的自焚事件令人寒心。

關於藝術家

丹增熱珠（Tenzing Rigdol）1982年出生於尼泊爾加德滿都，於美國科羅拉多大學修習藝術與藝術史，現居住於紐約。其作品涵蓋繪畫、雕塑、素描、拼貼以及數碼化影片裝置、行為藝術以及特定地點作品等門類。2011年，藝術家將兩萬公斤泥土從西藏日喀則經尼泊爾運至印度達蘭薩拉，讓在那裡的流散藏人踏上故鄉土地。這一壯舉被記錄下來，影片名為《把西藏帶回家》。其導演Tenzin Tsetan Choklay更因此贏得2014年在比亞裡茨舉辦的國際影視項目藝術節的歐洲年輕陪審團獎和紐約國際亞美電影節新晉導演獎。同時，影片還獲得CAAMFest 2014 （原舊金山國際亞美電影節）最佳記錄片提名。2014年，熱珠參加了由David Elliot策展的莫斯科雙年展的年輕藝術家展區。

熱珠的作品在世界各地展出，並被納入各地的私人與博物館收藏。2014年，他成為美國大都會博物館《西藏與印度：佛教傳統與轉變》展覽中僅有的兩位西藏當代藝術家之一。其混合媒介作品Pin Drop Silence：Eleven-Headed Avalokitesvara（2013）也是大都會博物館所收藏的首件西藏當代藝術作品。