Click to view Artist Statement & photos of Liu's trips in Tibet

Jackson, WY…. Trailside Galleries is pleased to present Journeys To Tibet, a month long show of of new works by California based artist Huihan Liu.  The show, which will focus on paintings inspired by Huihan’s many travels to Tibet, will be on exhibit at the gallery from August 1-through August 31 and an artist’s reception will take place at the gallery on Thursday evening, August 4 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm.   During the reception, there will also be a slide show presentation that chronicles the many changes that are impacting the Tibetan people and culture.

Tibet has a long and rich history as a flourishing center of Buddhism and learning, as well as periods where it was a strong regional military power.  However, due to its remoteness and isolation, it remained until the mid 20th century a “Forbidden Land” to Westerners:  a mythical Utopia far above the troubles of the modern age.  Today, the lands of Tibet’s historical kingdoms encompass not only the actual territories of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, but also parts of neighboring Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Huihan Liu first visited Tibet in 1987, when travel was difficult and slow, via unpaved dirt roads. Its splendid landscape and the hospitable people who lived at the roof of the world instantly captivated him.   He notes,  “Having grown up in faraway southern China, I never imagined that I would someday have the chance to explore Tibet. The mark that first encounter left on me would lead me to take seven more trips to Tibet during the following twenty-nine years.”  He adds, “I can’t tell whether   I go back in order to paint, or I paint in order go back.  At the same time, I feel like I have not much time to lose, as the modern world’s effect on traditional Tibetan culture grows year by year.”

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. David R. Shlim, will be giving a talk at the exhibition.  David R Shlim MD first traveled to Nepal in 1979, and made his first trip to Tibet in 1987.  He subsequently lived in Kathmandu for fifteen years, where he ran the world’s busiest destination travel medicine clinic, and offered free medical care to Tibetan refugees.  He is the author of over forty-five original research papers, and has served as the President of the International Society of Travel Medicine.  He practices travel medicine at his office in Wilson, and has taught Tibetan Buddhism for the last sixteen years in Jackson.  He regularly hosts Tibetan Lamas who come to Jackson Hole to teach.  He is the co-author, with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, of the book Medicine and Compassion: A Tibetan Lama and an American Doctor on How to Provide Care with Compassion and Wisdom.

Since 1963, Trailside Galleries of Jackson, Wyoming and Scottsdale, Arizona has been regarded as one of the pre-eminent dealers in American representational art, specializing in a rich and varied collection of works by the leading western, wildlife, figurative, impressionist, and landscape artists in the country. The artist roster includes members of the Cowboy Artists of America, National Academy of Design, Oil Painters of America, Plein-Air Painters of America, Prix De West, Society of Animal Artists, National Sculpture Society and Masters of the American West.

Please contact Kimberly C. Fletcher, Marketing & Communications Director at 307.200.1622 or via email media@trailsidegalleries.com for further information and images.