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Tenzing Rigdol
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Tenzing Rigdol is a contemporary Tibetan artist whose work ranges from painting, sculpture, drawing and collage, to digital, video-installation, performance art and site specific pieces. His paintings are the products of collective influences and interpretations of age-old traditions; they are influenced by philosophy; often capture the ongoing issues of human conflicts; and have strong political undertones – for him, politics is an unavoidable element in his art. Indeed,  in recent years Rigdol has become a focus for young Tibetan diaspora precisely because of the political nature of his art.

Born in 1982 in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rigdol and his family were granted political asylum in the USA in 2002. Rigdol studied Tibetan sand painting, butter sculpture and Buddhist philosophy in Nepal. In 2003 he earned a diploma in traditional Tibetan thangka painting and in 2005 he was awarded a BFA in Painting and Drawing and a BA in Art History at the University of Colorado Denver, USA. Rigdol is also an accomplished poet, having published three collections of poetry, “R”– the Frozen Ink (2008), Anatomy of Nights (2011) and Butterfly’s Wings (2011), printed by Tibet Writers.

He has been widely exhibited internationally and his artworks are included in public and private collections around the world. In 2011 his widely reported Our Land, Our People involved the covert transportation of 20 tonnes of soil out of Tibet, through Nepal, to Dharamsala. There, displaced Tibetans were given the opportunity to walk on their home soil once again. The journey to smuggle soil across three borders is documented in Bringing Tibet Home, a documentary directed by Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, which  was awarded the Young European Jury Award (Prix du Jury de Junes Européens) at the 27th edition of FIPA (Interna tional Festival of Audiovisual Programmes. In 2014, Rigdol became one of the  only two contemporary Tibetan artists to be included in the exhibition Tibet and India: New Beginnings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. His work Pin Drop Silence: Eleven-Headed Avalokitesvara was also the first work by a contemporary Tibetan artist to be acquired by the Met.

Selected Works
Compression/Blue/Deity
2005
Watercolour and pastel on paper
67 x 50 cm
Tenzing Rigdol
2008
Chair and scriptures
77 x 46.5 x 52 cm
My World is in Your Blind-spot
2014
Silk Brocade, Scripture
182 x 182 cm (72 x 72 in) each
Endurace
2013
Acrylic on canvas
121 x 83 cm
Aes Dhammo Sanantano - Change is the Eternal Law
2006
Collage magazine and scriptures
96 x 63 cm
Milarepa, Me and Robert Frost
2007
Oil on canvas
127 x 162.5 cm
Kids Mandala
2008
Acrylic on canvas
136 x 134 cm
Repetition and Reincarnation
2006
Oil on canvas
99 x 137 cm
Buddha-Ahh! Deconstruction Experienced
2007
Oil on canvas
175 x 120 cm
A Ripple in Time #1 Lost
2013
Acrylic on paper
Diameter 50 cm (19 ¾ in)
Exhibitions
Art Basel Hong Kong 2021
May 19
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May 23, 2021
Dialogue
Jul 20
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Sep 21, 2019
Change is the Eternal Law
Sep 19
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Oct 24, 2015
Parallel Realities: Contemporary Tibetan Art
Oct 26
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Jan 31, 2015
Same:Difference
Dec 9
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Jan 23, 2014
Darkness into Beauty
Feb 7
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Mar 27, 2013
Our Land, Our People
Oct 25
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Oct 28, 2011
Tradition Transformed: Tibetan Artists Respond
Jun 11
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Oct 18, 2010
Experiment with Forms
Feb 11
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Mar 27, 2009
Consciousness and Form
Oct 4
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Oct 26, 2007
Tibetan Encounters: Contemporary meets Tradition
Mar 19
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Mar 27, 2007