IU Art Museum gallery to display 2 new exhibits

Two new, though wildly different, exhibits were unveiled Thursday during a special reception at the IU Art Museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.

“From the Steppes and the Monasteries: Arts of Mongolia and Tibet,” the larger of the two shows, is divided into two sections, curator Judy Stubbs said.

One section of the collection showcases domestic objects from Mongolia, such as whips, textiles and chess sets. The other displays Tibetan items, primarily Buddhist masks, books and silk paintings called Thankgas.

The large, lustrous Thankgas hang on a wall and depict several Buddhist deities.
The paintings’ upper halves are dark, stained by the smoke used to make them, which Stubbs said are signs of their authenticity.

“All of these items were actually in use at some time,” she said. “When we unwrapped the Thankgas they smelled distinctly of smoke, and some of them were even slightly greasy from the butter lamps.”

In the center of the gallery are six giant masks once used during Tsam, a traditional dance for Mongolian Buddhists.

One mask depicts the elephant head of the Buddhist deity Ganesha, his trunks cracked. Another depicts the snarling face of a tiger, a symbol of the autumnal equinox.

A few yards away, “African Reinventions: Reused Materials in Popular Culture” showcases pieces created in several African nations, all out of recycled products.

A giant movie poster, painted on the back of two flour sacks, hangs on the wall. The poster is a hand painted advertisement once used by entrepreneurs who used VCRs to create traveling cinemas in the 1980s, curator Diane Pelrine said.

Bottle cap briefcases, toy planes made from bottles and dolls made out of cloth and the rubber of flip flops also fill the small exhibit.

In its center lies a bouquet of flowers from South Africa — the petals created out of soda cans, the stalks, barb wire.

Pelrine said she assembled the exhibit as a companion to the subject of the 2010 Fall Themester, which is about sustainability.

Originally planned as a smaller exhibit, Pelrine was able to expand the exhibit after sending an e-mail to the African Studies faculty.

“I wasn’t sure I could find enough pieces originally,” Pelrine said. “But I got a really great response. We were able to get pieces from Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and Madagascar.”

Both exhibits open to the public Saturday.