Sunday, July 10, 2011

Buddhist Shrine in Chicago





After visiting the "Movie Mojo" exhibit
at the Chicago Cultural Center,
I had to pay a visit
to Primitive Gallery in Chicago
who sponsored it.

With four floors of furniture, sculpture, fabrics, and odd stuff
from around the world,
it's quite a fascinating place,
or actually,
a collection of places,









my favorite of which was the
Buddha Room

Stooping down
to enter through a short,
antique doorway,
you're surrounded by scenes from the life of the Buddha
as painted by a young, contemporary
artist from Nepal.

And he's very good,
though not great.









But it's the sculpture that mostly
interested me,
specifically the two pieces
that I'm showing here.

No date was given for the above,
but it's so much better
than most contemporary Buddhist or Hindu sculpture
which, even if large,
never feels more profound than
knick-knacks at a gift shoppe.





This piece is attributed
to a mid 20th Century sculptor
named Raj Bhai,
but I couldn't find
anything more about him
on the internet.




Unless it's been done by famous Italians ,
all religious art of the 20th Century
is practically anonymous,
especially in the third world.



1 Comments:

Blogger Marly Youmans said...

Those are graceful... When I was in Cambodia, I went to a workshop that taught many traditional crafts, and I did find it all very interesting. But an awful lot seemed "bitty," as if made to go home with a Western tourist.

September 02, 2011  

Post a Comment

<< Home

<