November 03, 2025, Mumbai, India: The Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA), powered by AstaGuru, is proud to present Lineages – the first ever solo exhibition in India by internationally acclaimed Tibetan contemporary artist Tsherin Sherpa.The exhibition will be on view at the ICIA Gallery, Kala Ghoda, from 6th to 14th November 2025.
Born in Kathmandu in 1968, Tsherin Sherpa lives and works between Nepal and California. Trained in traditional Tibetan thangka painting under the guidance of his father, Master Urgen Dorje, Sherpa went on to teach the craft in Buddhist centers before evolving a practice that bridges tradition with contemporary expression.
With Lineages, ICIA brings together a selection of Sherpa’s works that navigate between classical Tibetan Buddhist iconography, tantric motifs, global pop culture references, and contemporary visual languages. His art juxtaposes the sacred and the secular, exploring contrasts that question identity, spirituality, and cultural inheritance. Through this synthesis, Sherpa reflects on themes of diasporic experience, the persistence of ritual practices, and the endurance of artisanal traditions in a modern context.
Over the years, Tsherin Sherpa has earned global recognition, with his works housed in major institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; and the World Museum, Liverpool.
The exhibition aims to offer Indian audiences an opportunity to engage with Sherpa’s thought-provoking body of work, which has redefined the dialogue between tradition and modernity in contemporary art.
Commenting on the exhibition, Artist – Tsherin Sherpa says: “This exhibition emerged from conversations about artistic connections across South Asia. It represents a new way of engaging with the Indian art landscape offering an overview of my practice rather than the singular works that have previously entered private collections in the country. The exhibition features works across a range of scales, including carpets such as This is not a Rorschach Test (2022), which has been central to my recent practice. It brings together significant lines of inquiry from the past decade, with pieces like Hawk (2019–2020), earlier exhibited in my retrospective Spirits at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as works such as Luxation 2 (2016), part of a series first presented at the Nepal Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and now held in major institutional collections worldwide.”
Speaking on the curation, Larissa Guimaraes, Associate Director at AstaGuru, said:
“It is an honor to present this comprehensive, though condensed, overview of the mediums, themes, and collaborations that define Tsherin Sherpa’s practice. My first encounter with his striking Himalayan-inspired works in Hong Kong, within the context of my work in AstaGuru’s International Art category, left a lasting impression. The resonance of his aesthetics and mediums with the Indian context which shares overlapping geographies, languages, religions, and rituals with the Kathmandu Valley made a compelling case for bringing his art to the country. This exhibition also reflects an experimental model of collaboration with artists and galleries, one that feels especially relevant in a moment of global shifts within the art market. Audiences can expect an exhibition that speaks to both new and seasoned collectors, bridging ancient techniques and themes with ultra-contemporary visual languages.”
The exhibition promises to captivate both seasoned collectors and new audiences, bridging classical techniques with contemporary visual language, and opening a dialogue on cultural continuity, innovation, and the enduring power of art.
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The exhibition will be on view at ICIA Gallery, Kala Ghoda, from 6th to 14th November 2025.
