Welcome To Hell, arts of asian underworlds, at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Exhibit runs through September 18th. Outtakes below.
The Melt, 2017, by Tsherin Sherpa (Nepalese, b. 1968)
"What does it feel like to move from life as we know it, or embodiment and manifestation, into... another realm?"
Puzzling Samsara (The Buddhist Wheel of Existence)
"For some, samsara or the cycle of existence is a 'childlike toy." The painting this display represents of the Buddhist Wheel of Existence depicts the cosmos as a hellish cycle of endless rebirths.... But from the Buddha's holistic perspective, samsara can be seen positively. For without samsara, there is no enlightenment."
A life-size video of shadow figures arriving in hell. Some brought luggage.
The god of death Yama 1920-1945 Indonesia; Java
Enma-o, king and judge of hell
1500-1600, Japan
"When people break the law, or violate dharma, they will earn Enma's postmortem enmity... In Japan, he is known as Enma,and as you can see he is a very serious person. His scowling visage conveys a sense of indignation, as if we have caught him opening his mouth to sentence a sinner. While he might now seem washed out, Enma's face would originally have been quite red, reflecting his rage at a sinner offenses."
The Buddhist guardian Yama
1700-1800 China
"Yama changes when he crosses the mountain passes from India into Tibet. A far cry from India's austere first ancestor, Yama of the Himalayas now wears a buffalo head. What is more, his imagery evolves to grotesque piled on lurid. Yama dances on top of a buffalo, which is itself in sexual union with a corpse. What could possibly be at stake here to generate such psychologically challenging imagery?"
"The Hag Of Hell" (Datsueba and her worshippers)
1849 by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797-1861)
Datsueba, Japan's cruel Hag of Hell, is getting some comeuppance in this nineteenth-century woodblock print... From behind dream-like clouds, the living pour their incessant prayers into the netherworld, and Datsueba can't shut them out.
Bima Swarga by Wayan Ketig (Indonesian, 1939-2010(
Approximately 1970
The Buddha Amitayus
1700-1800 China
"The Buddha Amitayus. Think of him as your public defender... Amatayus defends his clients by exploiting a legal loophole in the law (dharma) called 'truth speaking' wherein Amatayus makes a promise: 'May I not become a Buddha unless everyone who encounters me is instantly freed from the horrors of hell."
Bugs in the Food of the Hungry Ghosts, 1863-1866, Japan
2008 by Seol Min (Korean, b. 1966)
"White-Robed Water-Moon Avalkiteshvara law-breaking bodhisattva of compassion shape-shifts through East Asia, adapting visually to every cultural circumstance..."
As always, exit through the gift shop
Comments