22 Gallery Shows / Auctions TATSUO MIYAJIMA


Having devised early on the principles ‘Keep changing, connect with everything and Continue forever’ that would drive his artistic career, Tatsuo Miyajima (b 1957) found the medium he would still be working with 30 years later almost by accident, walking through the streets of Tokyo. His LED counters (light-emitting diode) with their blinking numbers investigate the notion of time in the larger scheme of life. Te artist deliberately programmes the counters not to reach the number ‘zero’ in their countdown, underlining that nothing ever ends, but marks a new beginning instead. In his latest exhibition in


New York, his first in the city in more than five years, Tatsuo Miyajima presents three new series, Many Lives, MULAPIN, and Hundred Changes in Life, further expanding his approach towards Buddhist philosophy. Tese series emphasise the connection between the


THE PIPRAHWA GEMS OF THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA


Twenty-Four Lives - 01 (2023) by Tatsuo Miyajima, LED, IC, electric wire, aluminium panel, stainless steel, switching power supply, 46.8 x 67.6 x 7 cm, courtesy Lisson Gallery © Tatsuo Miyajima


human and the cosmic world, while highlighting the value of each being. Over time, Tatsuo Miyajima’s practice has grown from focusing on the individual to the human in the cycle of life, and ultimately, within the cosmos. Although the


KIM YUN SHIN


Add Two Add One surveys Kim Yun Shin’s oeuvre to date, including both paintings and sculptures from the 1970s to the present, this is Kim’s first major solo exhibition with Lehmann Maupin in New York. Named after Kim’s iconic sculptural series, the show’s title Add Two Add One Divide Two Divide One derives from the philosophical concepts of yin (division and fragmentation) and yang (addition and integration), which informs Kim’s process – she ‘adds’ her soul into the solid wood and ‘divides’ the space between the bark and inner wood to create a complete whole. Both exhibitions (London and New York) probe the scope of Kim’s historic career, tracing her artistic and thematic


Add Two Add One Divide Two Divide One 2001-10, 1998-2001, Algarrobo wood, 57.5 x 47 x 39.5 cm, courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, and London; and Kukje Gallery, Seoul and Busan


development, and thus, her connection to the natural and spiritual worlds around her. Kim has established herself


as a pioneering figure in the post-war South Korean art scene, overcoming societal norms to carve out a space for herself as a first-generation woman sculptor. Unfolding across Asia, South America, and Europe over the course of


• See Kim Yun Shin’s profile interview in Asian Art Newspaper, September 2024 issue.


lehmannmaupin.com


MONKS & MAHASIDDHAS Living the Teachings of Buddha


Parcel-gilt silver and gilt copper alloy figure of Sherab Palden Zangpo, Central Tibet, second half of the 15th century, height 24.1 cm, est HK$3 to 5 million, Bonhams


ASIAN ART | APRIL 2025 | #AsianArtPaper |


Tis sale is devoted to Jules Speelman’s enduring fascination with portraits of revered teachers that uphold the Buddhist tradition of venerating images of masters while celebrating their individuality as authentic individuals. Highlights include a gilt copper alloy figure of Sakya Pandita and a gilt copper alloy figure of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo. Tese two large gilt-bronze portraits are fine examples of the important Tibetan historical figures they portray: Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) and Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456). Each bears an inscription that records it is part of a royal commission by the ruler of the kingdom of Lo in present-day Mustang. Te bronzes were created to honour the passing of the Fourth Abbot


asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Left: Gilt copper alloy figure of Sakya Pandita, Tibet,


circa 1480-90 with a Tibetan inscription around the foot of the base, height 33.7 cm, est HK$4 to 6 million, Bonhams


Right: gilt copper alloy figure of Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo,


Tibet, circa 1480-90, with a Tibetan inscription around the foot of the base, height 32.4 cm, HK$4 to 6 million, Bonhams


of Ngor, Gyeltsap Kunga Wangcuk (1424-78). Terefore, as they are among relatively few portable Tibetan artworks that can be narrowly dated according to an inscription, they have great art historical value in addition to their high aesthetic appeal, as indicated by the inscriptions. A third figure, a heavily cast silver portrait of Sherab Palden Zangpo, was produced as a singular commission as a memento mori of the abbot. Identified by its inscription, the figure represents Sherab Palden Zangpo (15th century), the 28th abbot of the ‘lower’ college of Sangphu Ling (also known as Sangpu Neutok), an important monastery in Central Tibet, south of Lhasa.


• 5 May, Bonhams, Hong Kong, bonhams.com


Asian Art Newspaper


more than 70 years, Kim’s work has come to embody a distinct aesthetic that engages with the fundamental qualities of materials and nature. At 90, Kim continues to actively paint and work on her signature wood sculptures with her iconic chainsaw.


artist relies primarily on numbers, he has nevertheless found a way to express intimate thoughts each one of us has to face and address during their existence.


• Until 19 April, Lisson Gallery, New York, lissongallery.com


Te Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha, are an important grouping of gems that were unearthed over a century ago from an ancient stupa in Piprahwa, northern India, by William Claxton Peppé (1852-1936), an English estate manager. An inscription on a reliquary urn confirmed that the pieces of bone found with the gems were the Sakya clan’s share of the Buddha’s cremated remains. Te bone remnants were given to the King of Siam (Rama V), the sole remaining Buddhist sovereign in the world, who subdivided them to be enshrined at some of the most important shrines across Southeast and South Asia, where they have powered these sacred Buddhist structures for more than a century. Te gold pieces and gems were donated to the Indian Museum in Kolkata. A small fraction of duplicate gems that William Peppé was allowed to keep has remained in the family ever since. Tese will now be presented for sale in May as part of Hong Kong Asian Art Week. Te Piprahwa discovery


ranks among the momentous events in the history of archaeology of the late 19th century. As archaeologists


sought to map out the geography of Buddhist India, following closely in the footsteps of Chinese pilgrim monks of the 1st millennium, a first breakthrough came in 1896 with the excavation at Lumbini in Nepal of a pillar inscribed by royal order of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r 268-232 BC), identifying the location as the birthplace of Shakyamuni Buddha. Inspired by the discovery,


William Peppé began to excavate the largest of several ancient mounds on his land at Piprahwa, near the border with Nepal, 19 kilometres south of Lumbini. In 1898, his efforts unearthed a vaulted chamber of Mauryan construction from the 3rd century BC, which revealed a magnificent array of offerings – close to 1,800 gemstones and semi-precious stones, pearls, coral, and patterned gold and silver sheets, all consistent with forms known from other important Mauryan Buddhist sites. Tese remarkable gems,


dating back to the era of Emperor Ashoka, encapsulate a pivotal period defined by his pilgrimages. Reinterred in the stupa at the time of Emperor Ashoka around 240 BC – originally built shortly after the


Buddha’s death around 400 BC – they stand as powerful objects of a global faith that has transcended two millennia. Upon discovery, William


Peppé was encouraged by the Venerable P C Jinavaravansa (1851-1935), who was a Tai monk and cousin of the King of Siam (Rama V), to ask the Government of India to gift the discoveries to the King. In the spirit of Emperor Ashoka, portions of the findings were distributed and enshrined at Wat Saket in Bangkok, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, and across Sri Lanka – located in some of the most important Buddhist temples across Southeast and South Asia ever since. Te bulk of the gems was donated to the Indian Museum in Kolkata, while the Indian government permitted William Peppé to retain the duplicate items. Te Peppé family has continued to share these treasures with a global audience, through numerous exhibitions at international museums, including Te Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2023, as part of the exhibition Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India 200 BC to AD 400.


• 7 May, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, sothebys.com


A selection of the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha will be offered at auction on 7 May, estimate on request, Sotheby’s


• From 3 April to 31 May, Lehmann Maupin, New York,


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