This month at the EMW Gallery, we're proud to be displaying the artwork of Tibetan painter Ngawang Jorden. Personally, I love seeing his stuff in the main space. I was blown away when he and our creative director Jeff Cott moved the pieces in a few weeks ago, and I continue to be amazed every time I go downstairs to kick it. Jorden's work is politically incisive and deep as fuck to be sure (ALL THESE LAYERS!!), but also just visually stunning. I can't be mad. This man can paint. Hats off to you, fam.
Here's his tumblr: http://ngawangjorden.tumblr.com/
Here's his artist statement:
Ngawang Jorden began painting and drawing at an early age. When he was 16, he began studying traditional Tibetan thangka painting and he continued his education for four years. Jorden's work is centered around four main themes: man's universe and mental patterns, traditional Tibetan symbolism, political imagery, and the relationship between humans and technology.
His work employs a meticulous classical technique, influenced by traditional Tibetan religious art. It is represented in a space that he has created in combination with various organic and natural forms. Jorden interprets current and past sociopolitical events and human behavior in combination with his own recollection of ideas, most of them learned from his Buddhist background, to enhance artistic creativity. He creates a new reality based on his personal experiences as a Tibetan who has grown up seeing the injustice and pain inflicted on his own country, Tibet, and its people. To Jorden, it has become almost second nature to observe how we have behaved through history and how we continue to repeat the same actions only under different circumstances at different points in time.
This idea, that our own actions can be predicted by looking at how we have behaved in the past, is a recurrent concept that can be seen throughout Jorden’s works.
So word, drop by and pay us a visit sometime. Stop and smell the acrylic. 934 all day.