![]() It seems that we get into trouble when we try to be more or less than merely human. Interestingly, the only escape from the cycle of birth and death known as samsara is not through the God realm but through the Human. The others are the Animal, the Demigod, the Hungry Ghost and the Human. In general, the wheel represents six possibilities of reincarnation, of which the Hell realm and the God realm are two. Western works are morbidly preoccupied with the perishability of the body Eastern works take a holistic, Buddhist view of death as a passage between states of being in nearly endless cycles of reincarnation. With the West on one side of the gallery, and the East on the other, it is apparent that the Europeans tend toward a more naturalistic, gloomy and macabre approach, while the Tibetan works tend to be more cartoonish, symbolically complicated and hopeful. (There is also one contemporary effort: an unusually affecting video by Bill Viola.) While loaded with arresting paintings, sculptures, prints and artifacts, the exhibition also highlights profound differences in what death means to the two cultures. Lee, a curatorial consultant, the show’s 84 works are evenly divided between traditional Tibetan objects and medieval and early Renaissance European pieces. Some of it is in “Remember That You Will Die: Death Across Cultures,” an exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art that is equally entertaining aesthetically and philosophically.Īs organized by the Rubin curators Martin Brauen and Karl Debreczeny, with Bonnie B. This undeniable truth has inspired mountains of great art over the millenniums. But sooner or later, the Grim Reaper will come for each and every one of us. We may carry on as if we were immortal - life has its own mysterious agenda.
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