Sneak Peek Fall 2023

Contemporary California Artist Tsherin Sherpa

This fall, MMA will present one of its most significant exhibitions to date featuring the work of contemporary California artist Tsherin Sherpa. One of the most renowned artists of Himalayan descent Sherpa’s groundbreaking artwork continues to garner international acclaim. Sherpa was recently honored by the Asia Society for his significant contribution to contemporary art. Born in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1968, Tsherin Sherpa emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998. Sherpa currently works and lives between Kathmandu (Nepal) and Northern California (USA). Sherpa’s work is a blending of these two worlds. Grounded in his personal experiences within the Himalayan Diaspora and his training as a thangka painter, (traditional Buddhist art), the artist boldly reconfigures rich Buddhist iconography with pop culture references to explore contemporary concerns. The resulting works form a narrative interplay of opposites: sacred/ secular, traditional/contemporary, and settlement/movement.

Tsherin Sherpa has exhibited across the United States, Europe, and Asia—including representing Nepal in its inaugural participation at the Venice Biennale in 2022. He has also been part of Yokohama Triennale (2020); Yinchuan Biennale (2018); Kathmandu Triennale (2017); Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2015-16); and Dhaka Art Summit (2014).

Sherpa's work is included in private collections around the world, as well as in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Australia; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; World Museum, Liverpool; Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka and Uli Sigg Collection. In February 2022 the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts presented the artist's first museum mid-career retrospective, Spirits, which travelled on the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and will open at the Asia Society in Houston in September 2023.