Chicago Sun Times
CHICAGO, U.S.A., March 30, 2003: A one-of-a-kind show of Buddhist and Hindu art opened at the Art Institute of Chicago this week featuring 187 works of painting and sculpture from Tibet, Nepal, Kashmir and Bhutan. The works in the exhibit were chosen entirely for their aesthetic qualities, not to illustrate any particular philosophy, says Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, the Art Institute visiting curator of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art. The purpose of the exhibit, he says “is to encourage the viewer first to look and enjoy the beauty of the objects and then to explore their spiritual import.” Hindu Deities dominate the Nepalese and Indian galleries. Here the principals of karma and reincarnation, the cycles of life, death and rebirth are illustrated through Hindu mythology which provides a rich cast of characters, many in animal forms. It is a mythology that offers what Pal calls “the osmosis between the human, the animal and the divine” that characterizes Eastern religions. The exhibit spans 1,500 years, four countries and two major world religions.