Located both in the heart of busy Taipei and with a gallery space on the street front in the Taipei art district, Tansbao Gallery has enthusiastically launched into the next phase of its artistic adventure.
Tansbao’s, or Ms. Jill Lu’s, foray into art is purely serendipitous. It grew out of a fated encounter she had with Bhutan and its art in her days as a media professional. Many years ago, she went for an interview and there she began her exploration of contemporary art and what it means to bring art to lives. Fascinated by what she saw, Jill returned over and over again to this far, landlocked and fairy tale like small country in the Himalayas to learn about its shapes and colours. Her ten years of experience in media gives her an insightful approach to communication, putting the gallery on the cutting edge of current digital needs.
Since 2018, Bhutanese artworks appeared more frequently in international exhibitions and art fairs due to Tansbao’s efforts. The gallery has successfully presented exhibitions of Bhutan art across spaces and important fairs, contributing to its recognition.
What the gallery has brought forth is more than a veneer of timelessness and exoticness. It is also about a country with long-rooted traditions actively moving forward towards its future under the perceptive and sensible eyes of its artists, established and emerging alike, reflecting on changes and continuity. To view Bhutan’s art as a mere inheritance of Buddhist votive imagery
would be too simplistic.
We find many talented artists represented exclusively by Tansbao Gallery. There is Asha Kama, whose artistic exploration is a perpetual quest to understand the relevance and fluidity of spirituality in modern life and can not be summarized directly into Buddha’s compassionate gaze, even though his mastery is indisputable. In the younger generation, Gyempo Wangchuk proves to
be a prolific thinker about current world issues and represents them with meticulous thangka techniques and materials, though never foregoing his sharp and phantasmagorical sense of humour, symbolism, and observation. Parallel journeys have been undertaken by Tintin Pema Tshering, Pema Gyeltsen, S. Bishwa II and more.
The art of Bhutan sparked the budding Tansbao, and it is now moving forward with the same freshness and candour into its role as an art gallery undertaking new possibilities in a physical space. A gallery surpasses just theory in its inter activeness with people from all walks of life, trying to make sense of the magic of connections with art’s power in mind. Spirituality is an important thematic explored throughout Tansbao’s exhibitions and will continue to be so. Centered around Buddhism, a longstanding and tensile heritage about wisdom and living, Tansbao will also focus on displaying other modern Buddhist artworks, especially that of artists from the Chinese speaking world, including China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It is an international tradition that is constantly renewing itself with metamorphosing expressions, hence its eternal appeal to human heart.
Nevertheless, art is never separated from the society we live in. It is always the best of times and the worst times, and we should never cease to reflect upon what surrounds us and humanity as an integral part of a bigger context. It is also Tansbao’s objective to carry that message as it develops an increasingly varied program. Hand in hand with artists, we hope to focus on issues that
matter, where our care could demonstrate that art is a human and cutting edge science. The gallery will be a platform to display artists’ speculations and concerns about the world we live in and share with each other, and to bring that inkling to visitors that come to us upon their path.
Nor is art far removed from our lives. It is the pleasure and drive to live with artworks that launched Tansbao on this challenging journey, and with this joy we wish to bring new and thoughtful works into homes. Art is an extension of the mind and should resonate in a space dear to everyone. One of the gallery’s main objectives is to bring into modern homes artworks that can live in symbiosis with it, creating resonance and provoking thoughts in a living environment. We look forward to having you on this expedition!
