[CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]   TSHERIN SHERPA Lot #130 things that POP in my head  pigment ink and gold leaf on Hahnemuhle paper. 21.5 x 28 inches Born in 1968 in Kathmandu, Tsherin Sherpa lives and works in California. He studied traditional Tibetan thangka painting from the age of twelve under the guidance of his father, Master Urgen Dorje, a renowned thangka artist from Ngyalam, Tibet. After six years of intense formal training, he left to study Mandarin and computer science in Taiwan. Three years later, he returned to Nepal to work with his father on numerous projects that included painting thangkas and monastery murals. In 1998, he moved to the USA and worked as a thangka artist and instructor at several Buddhist centers in California. In recent years his emphasis has shifted from traditional subjects to more contemporary concerns, including imagining what traditional Tibetan spirits would look like now if they too had left Tibet and journeyed with him to California. His technique is as precise and immaculate as ever, but the new Tibeto/Californian spirits are possessed of a revitalized energy: some depicted as children, others shown as quaintly demonic or possessed of a cocksure sexiness. Often he appropriates globalized icons and logos of mass culture and luxury branding, taken from the internet, in a style he calls CyberPop. Sherpa's works have been exhibited in the US, Asia and Europe and is represented by Rossi & Rossi gallery (London). Minimum Bid: $800 Value: $1,200