LOS ANGELES.- The UCLA Fowler Museum premieres the traveling exhibition ‘The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama’ through September 10. Eighty-eight contemporary artists from twenty-five countries have contributed artworks for an exhibition inspired by the messages, vision, and values of the Dalai Lama. The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama—on view at the UCLA Fowler Museum from June 11–September 10, 2006— explores themes of peace, compassion, patience, and tolerance. Participating artists have considered the Dalai Lama in a broad array of new and existing works made in a variety of media expressing their personal interpretations of and reflections on his philosophies and ideals.
A photograph of the Dalai Lama taken in India in 1998 by the late Richard Avedon was among the first works contributed to The Missing Peace. Many artists, including Bill Viola, Mike and Doug Starn, Sylvie Fleury, El Anatsui, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Michal Rovner and Chuck Close, have created new works for the exhibition. For example, Viola recently traveled to India to meet with the Dalai Lama to create a new work that will debut at the Fowler.
The complete roster of international artists is: Marina Abramovic, Seyed Alavi, Jane Alexander, El Anatsui, Laurie Anderson, Ken Aptekar, Richard Avedon, Kirsten Bahrs Janssen, Chase Bailey, Tayseer Baraket, Sanford Biggers, Phil Borges, Dove Bradshaw, Guy Buffet, Dario Campanile, Andy Cao, Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Chuck Close, Constantino Ciervo, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Long-Bin Chen, Bernard Cosey, Santiago Cucullu, Binh Dahn, Lewis de Soto, Filippo di Sambuy, Dorris Doerrie and Michael Wenger, Era and Don Farnsworth, Peig Fairbrook and Adele Fox, Spencer Finch, Sylvie Fleury, Louis Fox, Adam Fuss, Juan Galdeano, Rupert Garcia, Robin Garthwait and Dan Griffin, Richard Gere, Losang Gyatso, H. M. Harrison & Newton Harrison, Jim Hodges, David and Hi-Jin Hodge, Jenny Holzer, Tri Huu Luu, Ichi Ikeda, Yoko Inoue, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jesal Kapadia, Anish Kapoor, Kimsooja, Nefeli Massia, Yumyo Miyasaka, Gabriela Morawetz, Kisho Mukaiyama, Tom Nakashima, Dang Ngo, Michele Oka Doner, Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, Susan Plum, Rosemary Rawcliffe, Michal Rovner, Tenzin Rigdol, Salustiano, Sebastiao Salgado, Andra Samelson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Arlene Shechet, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mike and Doug Starn, Pat Steir, Hoang Van Bui, Adriana Varejao, Bill Viola, Inkie Whang, William Wiley, Katarina Wong, Yuriko Yamaguchi, and Negishi Yoshiro.
The works created by these artists have been organized into ten thematic areas: Interpreted Portraits, Tibet, Beliefs, Empathy and Compassion, Transformation, Humanity in Transition, Path to Peace, Unity, Spirituality and Globalization, Impermanence.
All works in the exhibition have been donated by the artists and will be auctioned to raise funds for the peace initiatives of the Dalai Lama Foundation (DLF) and the Committee of 100 for Tibet (C100), the co-sponsoring organizations. The Dalai Lama, who has met with The Missing Peace organizers on several occasions, supports the project and will be lending a work of art from his personal collection.
Darlene Markovich, president of the C100, is executive director of The Missing Peace, leading a team of more than twenty individuals and seventeen international advisors who have been organizing the exhibition for more than two years. “Our goal is to use art as inspiration and a catalyst to shift attention towards peace. We hope the exhibition will inspire others to explore and embrace these ideals,” says Markovich. “Peace may be elusive in our world, but the Dalai Lama consistently shows us that dedicating oneself to peace can have widespread positive impact.”
Randy Rosenberg, curator of The Missing Peace, formerly served as curator for the art collections of The World Bank and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The exhibition’s eighty-eight artists bring their individual stories and experiences as well as a rich and diverse array of media and styles,” says Rosenberg, “but together their works speak eloquently to the Dalai Lama's vision of compassion, peace, and the unity of all things.”
