Phurba Namgay painted this Four Friends for the Small Packages show at Cumberland Gallery in Nashville which starts December 1st and goes through the 24th. Each of the four 6 x 4" pieces in the show illustrate Bhutanese folktales. Images of the four friends are all over Bhutan and remind us to live harmoniously. The elephant, monkey, rabbit and bird help each other pick the berries from the tree and it's come to represent the spirit of cooperation that makes life easier and more harmonious. If these animals can work together anybody should be able to. Most often in depictions of the Four Friends the bird sits on the rabbit who sits on the monkey who sits on the elephants back, and the bird is reaching for a piece of fruit on the tree. Namgay said he wanted to unstack them and give a more democratic distribution of labor. So he did.
3 comments:
Oh lordy, I love this one. My mama is gonna love hers. I can't wait! Well, I'm going to have y'all send it directly to her, so I won't even see it for awhile, but still. Dude is talented. Oy.
What is wrong with this thing? I've tried to comment like 12 times and tell you Im sending a picture cuz it's happening and that we'll ship it to your mom or we might just get in the car and drive to Minnesota. She's in Minnesota, no?
She's in Arkansas, which is even closer! I will get the address and send it to you.
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