The power of leaving a hand- or footprint.

A couple of people were taken with the notion, mentioned in my review of "Faith and Empire," that by making a foot- or handprint, one creates a permanent link with the object, the way, say, the shroud that wrapped a saint's body becomes a relic. Credit goes to  Kathryn Selig Brown, a scholar of Tibetan …

Portraits in bronze

One of the many treats in "Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism" at the Rubin Museum of Art are two bronze portraits of lamas.  We see so many idealized Buddha and bodhisattva figures, it's easy to forget that the sculptors were also capable of expressing people's individuality.  Meet lama Change Rolpai Dorje …

Peeking into India’s contemporary art scene

Are Andrea and I a tad daunted at the prospect of launching Art +Asia/Writing+Video? You bet!  Are we deterred?  No way.  Reviewing a show about modernist art from India at the Rubin Museum of Art made us revisit some conversations with Indian artists and galleries  this summer.  Here are a few  works spotted at  a show of emerging …