Ed Sappin | Philanthropy & Community

Giving & Volunteering

The Rubin Museum “Sacred Spaces”

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The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room [Image courtesy of RubinMuseum.org]

Sacred Spaces, which has been on display at the Rubin Museum for almost a year, is a meditation on spirituality, physical spaces, and their intersections. The exhibition showcases three environments that have been shaped by human religiosity and acts of veneration.

In a recent interview for Splacer Magazine, Rubin Museum Director of Programs and Engagement Tim McHenry explains how the idea for ‘Sacred Spaces’ came to be. McHenry describes how, after the opening of the

“Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room in an intimate, but cramped nook on the second floor gallery, there was a realization that it was inadequate…We wanted to create an environment that allowed for a durational relationship, one that builds up through exposure over time.”

When it opened in 2010, the Rubin’s Shrine Room wasn’t supposed to be permanent (it was on loan from the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian); the current iteration was supported through a crowdfunding campaign on Razoo. The exhibit explores the meaning of physical space in a couple of different ways: there is a 360-degree panoramic photograph of the Himalayan Mountains, which circumscribes the exhibit’s Shrine Room, and a video installation documenting a Jain communal ritual in which a massive stone sculpture is erected every dozen years. The video invites viewers to consider the concept of rituals–I found this aspect of the film to be particularly meaningful.

The room where Sacred Spaces is on display conveys a sense of intimacy–and also community. The two aren’t at odds with each other. Visitors are given the sense that in the personal, there is the universal. To that end, Sacred Spaces asks its visitors to consider: what spaces are sacred to you?

The Sacred Spaces exhibition is open to the public through October 17th. The beginning of autumn strikes me as a rather contemplative time of year. Make a date with yourself to catch this fascinating exhibit before it closes!

Gateway to Himalayan Art at the Rubin

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Gateway to Himalayan Art

“Life story of Buddha Shakyamuni,” a Tibetan cloth painting on display at the exhibit.                           [Image courtesy of RubinMuseum.org]

New York City is home to a vast range of museums, many of them legendary, from the Met to the MoMa to the Museum of Natural History. While big-name museums are exciting to visit, there are also many niche institutions throughout the city. The Rubin, a cultural hub for Asian art, is one that I find fascinating and wish more people knew about.

 

Located in Chelsea, the Rubin, “inspires visitors to make powerful connections between contemporary life and the art, cultures, and ideas of the Himalayas and neighboring regions.” Since opening in 2004, the Rubin has had 1.4 million visitors through its interactive and educational exhibits that connect contemporary world to Himalayan art, ideas and history.

 

Himalayan art is not something everyone has an inherent familiarity with, which is why a visit to the Rubin can be particularly eye-opening and intriguing. The exhibit “Gateway to Himalayan Art,” a year-long exhibit lasting this June to next, is a wonderful way to introduce new viewers to the Rubin’s collections. Even those like myself with an interest in Asian Art can glean new and interesting insights from “Gateway.”

 

“Gateway to Himalayan Art” introduces visitors to the main concepts, forms, and themes  within the Rubin’s collections: a gateway in every sense of the word. It opens with a video presentation and virtual map that highlights regions of interest, including past and present parts of Mongolia, India, Nepal, China, and Bhutan. Significant objects from the collection are arranged within the exhibit by theme: 1) figures and symbols, 2) materials and techniques, and 3) purpose and function. This careful, organized curation helps visitors understand what a piece of art means, what it is made for, and what it does or did.

 

The most common depiction is the Buddha, or “enlightened one,” founder of Buddhism and religious figure in 5th or 6th century BCE. A variety of Himalayan gods and goddesses can also be observed on scrolls, murals, sculptures, and tools.

 

The Rubin Museum is a fantastic museum for any visitor, its collections full of items that provide a window into another part of the globe. “Gateway to Himalayan Art” is an educational portal into this magnificent world, well-suited for both first-time visitors and specialists. Next time you’re in Chelsea, why not treat yourself?

Spring is Here and the Art World is Blooming

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It is spring in New York and the museum and art worlds are busy with events, fundraisers and auctions. My wife Yanhua and I were fortunate to take part in The Rubin Museum’s annual spring series Brainwave. Emotion is the theme this year and we had an interesting afternoon with Bob Mankoff of the New Yorker and neuroscientist Scott Weems exploring laughter. What makes people laugh and how does the brain process it?

We also were able to attend several events around Asia Week New York at the Rubin and at Christie’s. The opening of the auction at Christie’s included a number of beautiful pieces. My favorite was the head of an unnamed bodhisattva from Indonesia (below),

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while my wife Yanhua preferred a statue of Guanyin, the Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva. I guess we were both looking for guides on our path to enlightenment.

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I was sad to miss the Armory Show but one of my favorite events, the AIPAD show, is coming up in a few weeks. It is the pre-eminent photography show in New York and brings together some of the best galleries in the world. I am looking forward to seeing the new works from husband and wife duo Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison who are presented by the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago.

On the volunteer front, I’ve been hard at work on a new civic venture to create family wage jobs for an underserved population in New York City. More to come on this in future blog posts.