Tenzing Rigdol: Chitra-Kala – Weaving Awareness through Time

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Rossi & Rossi is thrilled to announce Chitra-Kala: Weaving Awareness through Time, a solo exhibition on the work of Tibetan American artist Tenzing Rigdol (b. 1982). Derived from the Sanskrit words Chitra (light or awareness) and Kala (time or emptiness), the exhibition’s title Chitra-Kala translates to ‘art’. Reflecting a deep philosophical framework rooted in Eastern thought, it also speaks to the interplay between awareness and the passage of time.

Opening on 22 March 2025, the presentation, which features a new body of paintings and drawings, marks the artist’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. It follows his large-scale 2024 Met commission Biography of a Thought, a site-specific installation of paintings and carpets, which was juxtaposed with traditional Himalayan art and ritual objects in the museum’s exhibition Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet.

Conceived alongside Biography of a Thought, the artist’s new works on view – inspired by the Buddhist notion that ‘life is an ocean of suffering’ – delve into the interconnected realms of thought, emotion and awareness. In them, Rigdol contemplates humanity’s tendency to cling to the turbulent currents of thoughts and emotions. These unprocessed, untamed memories linger as imprints in the mind, often obstructing inner peace. Chitra-Kala: Weaving Awareness through Time is therefore an invitation to find balance in one’s mind, to observe without the disturbance of thought and to exist in a state of melodic tranquillity.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Tenzing Rigdol (b. 1982) is one of the leading contemporary Tibetan artists in the world. His oeuvre ranges from painting, sculpture, drawing and collage, to digital, video-installation, performance art and site-specific works. His paintings are the products of collective influences and interpretations of age-old traditions. Inspired by philosophy, science, literature and politics, he often captures ongoing issues of human conflict.

Rigdol has exhibited widely internationally, and his artworks are included in public and private collections around the world. In 2011, his site-specific installation Our Land, Our People, which received global media coverage, involved the covert transportation of twenty tonnes of soil out of Tibet, through Nepal, to Dharamsala, India. There, displaced Tibetans were given the opportunity to walk on their native soil once again. The soil’s journey was later chronicled in a full-length feature documentary, Bringing Tibet Home (2013). The film was awarded the Young European Jury Award (Prix du Jury de Jeunes Européens) at the 27th edition of FIPA (International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes).

He was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet, 2024. His interpretations of age-old traditions is the only contemporary juxtaposition to over 100 paintings, sculptures, textiles, instruments, and ritual objects, mostly dating between the 12th and 15th centuries.