One is also caught off by the variety of approaches.  There is full abstraction (which may in reality be a “transposition” of Buddhist texts into colors). There are elements of figurativism, typographic characters, and Tibetan sacred texts integrating the depth of works of the American painter Mark Rothko…

Ugen-Tenzing Nubpa is a Tibetan-born artist who uses modern painting techniques to create works of undeniable esthetic qualities. On the one hand, they question the connections between form and vacuity. On the other hand, they represent an original, contemporary approach to explore the Tibetan cultural heritage that is often viewed in a stereotypical way. Ugen-Tenzing pursues an additional goal: to give Tibetans access to the world of western contemporary visual arts. Indeed, if Tibetan philosophy has travelled around the world, influencing many practices and initiatives, the opposite is not true. Translations of Western thought into Tibetan are extremely rare.  The artist paints a bridge between the two cultures, each with its own heritage.  By so doing, he creates peculiar and fertile landscapes. For example, Ugen-Tenzing would like to see Blaise Pascal’s “Pensées” (“Thoughts”) translated into Tibetan. He believes that his countrymen would find in Pascal’s writings interesting connections to some of the Buddhist thoughts that pertain to the infinitely small and infinitely large.  “What to think of Alberto Giacometti’s statement that sculpture rests on void?”, asks the Tibetan artist.

Ugen-Tenzing was born in Tibet. The tribulations in his homeland brought him to France, where he grew up and studied, before moving to Switzerland some twenty years ago. Ugen-Tenzing first studied art in Lyon and Paris, then law at the University of Fribourg and finally nursing at the Fribourg Nursing School. The latter studies were encouraged by his brother Lama Chodrak  Gyatso as a means to vanquish one’s ego and  develop a Buddhist practice of compassion and altruism.  Thus Ugen-Tenzing spent most of his professional life being with and caring for the ill, using the dimensions of culture and art as therapy.  He has worked as a nurse’s aide and an art therapist in the Bern area for 14 years. Ugen-Tenzing is currently a certified nurse’s aide for neurologically impaired persons at the Plein Soleil nursing home, in Lausanne.

Ugen-Tenzing has never stopped painting. His exhibit entitled “infinite vacuity” in Puidoux consecrates him as a fully accomplished painter.

Original text (in French): Sylvain Frei, art historian.