Asia Week New York 2014 Part II

By Ka Yee Chan

Asia Week New York 2014, from March 14-22, is a nine-day celebration of Asian art in New York City. This is a celebration of tradition, as well as modern and new emerging artists. Don’t miss out on a chance to broaden your view with these amazing collections of Asian art.

For those who are interested in Indian, Thai, Tibetan, Nepalese, and Buddhist art, please visit the following galleries:

Dalton Somare, 27 east 67th Street, Friedman & Vallois, 2nd floor. (BUDDHIST)

The Dalton Somare exhibition, at the Fredman & Vallois Gallery presented the Early Buddhist Art, a world of Buddhist Arts. Buddhist Art originated in the Greater Gandhara and Bacteria. The first image of the Buddha was created around the 1st century BC.

Fredman & Vallois included Buddhist Art from around the world where different styles and qualities of Buddha figures, or related matters are shown. One of the remarkable displays is the Silver Cup with scenes of a hunting lion, which is a metaphor of the royal power. Beliefs, naturalism, and iconographies are presented among these amazing Buddhist Art pieces.

Francesca Galloway, Lesley Feely Fine Art, 33 East 68th street, 5th floor (INDIAN)

Francesca Galloway specializes in Indian painting and courtly objects, and Islamic and European textiles. The dealer bases in London and had recently shown at the Frieze Masters in London. This is the second time the gallery is exhibiting in this New York location.

This exhibition focuses on Indian paintings. Some of the highlights of the collection:
-The Night of Shab-barat-Ladies with Fireworks on a Terrance from late 18th century by Mola Bagas. It is opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper.
-Rama and Sita enthroned with Laksmana and Hanuman from 1790, opaque pigments and gold on paper.

All the paintings have symbolism and stories. Many include animals and even humors. The bright color usage is also an element that captures the attention of the viewer to look into the paintings. Other than paintings, the gallery also included intricate jail, architectural decoration often found in Indian architecture.

Buddhist Art, 29 E 72nd Street (BUDDHIST)

Buddhist Art presented Southeast Asian Buddhist arts from Angkor Wat to the Himalaya. Each culture has their own version of their religious figure, Buddha. Some highlights of Southeast Asian pieces in the gallery:

Head of Buddha, Lana from 14th century Thailand. It is made of Bronze and in spectacular condition.
There are two very eye-catching golden panels hang on the wall. They are Kammavaca Manuscript from the 19th century. Together is one complete book of 18 pages prayer book with 2 wooden covers and 16 laquer pages mounted on 2 Thai silk frames.
Buddhist Art had exhibited in San Francisco and will exhibit in Brussels in this coming June.

John Siudmak, C.G. Boerner Gallery, 23 East 73rd Street (INDIAN)

John Siudmak ‘s exhibition focuses in Indian and Himalayan Sculptures and Thankas. There are many bronzes and stones figures of Buddha of different centuries.
A Bronze Standing Buddha from 7th century, Standing Bronze Ganesha from 12th century, Siva Embracing Parvati from 13th century, Bronze Saiva Saint Chandikesvara from second half 10th century…
Many of the sculptures are in very well conditions. Most of them stand in elegant contrapposto poses, which made them very lively and interesting to look at.

Kapoor Galleries, 1015 Madison Avenue (between 78th & 79th Street) (INDIAN)

Kapoor Galleries focused in Indian, Nepalese and Tibetan art. There are many bronze sculpture, scroll paintings and some smaller size findings. The gallery was repainted with red and yellow specifically for this exhibition. Gallery is quite spacious, art pieces are able to display evenly throughout the gallery with more than enough spaces to walk through.

Moke Molotoff, 5 East 82nd Street, Ground level (BUDDHIST, TIBETAN)

It is an exhibition of ancient and antique Buddhist art from Himalayas, focusing on the images of ancient Tibetan Murals. It features a 19-foot long 17th century silk Tibetan temple banner representing the Seven Elements of a Universal Good Ruler. Moke Mokotoff includes a selection of Laird’s unique limited edition prints, which includes remarkable images of an early 15th century Mandala of the Yoga Tantra class, Tibet’s famed Gyantse Kumbum. This is the first time a whole wall mural from the Kumbum has ever been displayed outside of Tibet. There are also murals paintings by Tibet’s greatest 16th century painter, Gongkar Khyentse.

Brendan Lynch, 9 East 82nd Street (INDIAN, PERSIAN)

Brendan Lynch focuses on Indian and Persian Paintings from 1590-1840. It exhibits 33 paintings from the Hindu and Muslim royal courts of the India and Iran. Some of the highlights are:
An ornate Lorikeet on a branch of the Indian cherry tree by Zain al-Din, painted for Lady Impey, Calcutta, date 1777
A lady in a garden surrounded by exotic birds and animals Attributed to Rahim Deccani, Deccan, India, circa 1670
A gathering of thirty dervishes Isfahan, Persia, circa 1625
A prince seated on a palace terrace Bengal, perhaps Calcutta, circa 1750-1780

Nancy Wiener, 2109 Broadway (BUDDHIST, HINDU)

Nancy Wiener presented the Paths to the Divine, a range of sacred imagery found in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist traditions of India, the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. Some highlights includes:
-11th century painted book cover devoted to Buddhist goddess Tara from Tibet.
-18th century painting depicting the Hindu god Krishna and the demon snake Ugrasura from India
-Rare 8th-9th century figure of Vajrasattva from the Srivijaya period from Thailand.

For those who just want to visit one place with various regions of art works, you may visit:

1016 Madison (between 78th & 79th Street)(BUDDHIST, INDIAN, NEPALESE, VIETNAMESE, JAPANESE)
This building included galleries of Carlo Cristi, Walter Arader, Christophe Hioco, Nayef Homsi, Prahlad Bubbar, Giuseppe Piva Japanese Art and Hiroshi Yanagi. Someone who wanted to view several galleries in one shot this would be a great place to do so. Carlo Cristi specialize in Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian Art, and Central Asian Textiles. Walter Arader primary focus on bronze sculptures of Tibetan, Chinese, and Nepalese origin dating from 14th-18th centuries. Christophe Hioco includes Buddhist, Indian, Nepalese, and Vietnamese art. Nayef Homsi will feature fine Gandharan sculptures including a rare first century standing Buddha and a collection of exquisitely carved early dishes. Prahlad Bubbar presents Indian Court Paintings on paper dating from 17th -19th centuries. Giuseppe Piva Japanese Art specialized in antique Japanese artworks and Japanese armor equipment. Lastly, Hiroshi Yanagi presents unique Japanese sculpture, paintings and art…directly from Kyoto and as well present Buddhist sculpture, scrolls, screens, ceramics, bamboo baskets, lacquer ware and more.

For more information about Asia Week New York 2014, please visit: http://www.asiaweekny.com.

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