A mechak is the Tibetan word for "an iron edged tool, used for creating sparks," and it is an appropriate name for the dynamic Mechak Center for Contemporary Tibetan Art, located in Boulder, Colorado. The center is a "non-profit group working to create a community of Tibetan artists from what is currently a few isolated individuals making art in different parts of the world. The logical extension of this work will be the building of artistic and cultural bridges to artists working inside Tibet."
The mission of the center is also to ensure that Tibetan culture goes beyond the preservation of traditional art (and its potential stagnation as museum pieces). They believe "that a new Tibetan Art can speak to the psychic turmoil that the Tibetan people are undergoing, and that it can engage Tibetan society in a dialog between the past and present cultural surroundings, whether it be in Tibet or in exile. This ability of Art to create spaces that don't yet exist in reality, can help us explore, shape and define what we become as a culture, and how we maintain our spiritual center even as the edges of our worlds move."
The website is a knock-out place offering terrific essays on Tibetan culture and visual art, links to current exhibitions world wide, and a gallery highlighting the work of some of the most interesting contemporary Tibetan artists today. The image at the top is "Magic Deer of Lake Namsto" by Losang Gyatso. The second image is "Conflict of Round and Square" by Samchung.
Among the many fascinating features highlighted on the site is the Peaceful Wind Gallery, host of an exhibition titled "Lhasa Train" where artists currently living in Tibet interpreted the arrival of the Beijing-Lhasa rail service. The painting below is "Watching the Train" by Jigme Trinley, photo by James Hart. (Click to see a larger version.) The whole exhibit is an astonishing and powerful visual response to this cultural event.
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