Himalayan antiques dealers Rossi & Rossi Ltd and contemporary Tibetan art gallery The Sweet Tea House are delighted to announce Lhasa Express – an exciting collaboration, which will run from Wednesday 19 July to Friday 25 August 2006. The exhibition will be held at two venues: Rossi & Rossi’s gallery at 13 Old Bond Street, London W1, in the heart of prestigious Mayfair, and The Sweet Tea House, 264 Globe Road, London E2, in the cutting-edge East End.

As you may know, a train line connecting Beijing with Lhasa is nearing completion and direct trains between the two cities will start running on 1 July 2006. The journey will take only 48 hours and travellers will be able to enjoy some exceptional views en route, including the Qinghai Lake. The Qinghai-Tibet section of the railway will be the world’s highest railway, with some 960 kilometres of track laid about 4,000 metres above sea level, the highest reaching 5,072 metres. It will also be the world’s longest plateau railroad, extending 1,956 kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The Golmud-Lhasa section zigzags 1,142 kilometers across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges. The completion of this project has provoked strong and different reactions from all sides.

Rossi & Rossi Ltd and The Sweet Tea House have invited artists from various countries – including Tibet, America, China, and the UK – to express their views on this new railway and the impact it will have on Tibet.  The aim of the resulting exhibition is to bring together the diverse views of the artists to enter a dialogue with the viewer.  The participating artists are Catriona Bass, Faye Dobinson, Gyatso, Gonkar Gyatso, Losang Gyatso, Kesang Lamdark, Nortse, Prue Robinson, Sonam Tsering, Wayne Warren Celia Washington and Palden Weinreb.

‍