Tsherin Sherpa

Born in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1968, Tsherin Sherpa currently works and resides between California, USA and Nepal. From the age of 12, he studied traditional Tibetan thangka painting with his father Master Urgen Dorje.

In 1998, Sherpa immigrated to California, where he taught traditional thangka painting at various Buddhist Centers until he began to explore his own style-reimagining tantric motifs, symbols, colors and gestures placed in resolutely contemporary compositions. Sherpa also borrows imagery from classical Tibetan Buddhist iconography to abstract, fragment and reconstruct the traditional image to investigate and explore his personal diasporic experiences and the dichotomy found where sacred and secular culture collide. By employing mass culture’s ubiquitous noise, Tsherin imports these representations into a heightened dialogue where Buddhist icons and global affairs can renegotiate into a mirror-like transmutation.

“Tsherin Sherpa is one of the stars of contemporary Himalayan art […] and has been for a while”.

Dr. John Henry Rice | E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art