Tibetan Art for Sale: Thangkas and Mandalas by Tashi Gurung
Tashi Gurung is a Thangka and Mandala artist from the Mustang region in Nepal, just 4 kilometers away from Tibet.
It wasn't until 1950 that the first European set foot in Mustang, a forbidden Tibetan kingdom in the northwest of Nepal. Mustang was officially closed to foreigners until 1992. As one of the most isolated regions in the world, Tibetan culture has been preserved in the region. The untouched Mustang became even more important after the 1951 Chinese occupation of Tibet and the persecution of the Buddhists there.
In 1999, Tashi and several other artists began restoring 500-year-old Buddhist murals in local gompas (monasteries), which was documented in the NOVA PBS documentary “Lost Treasures of Tibet.” Tashi then went on several UNESCO-sponsored trips to Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh (in India), Tibet, and Kham (in China) to take part in the restoration of other Buddhist monasteries.
Inspired by this experience, Tashi traveled to Kathmandu and studied ancient painting and iconography with Master Thangka Painter Mukti Singh Thapa for five years.
All thangkas are hand-painted on local cotton canvas. Tashi uses local mineral pigments sourced from semiprecious stones such as vermilion or orpiment. These are ground into powder for three months, and then mixed with Yak-skin glue and water. 24-carat gold is used in some Thangkas as well.
33 artworks
33 artworks
