About us page

ABOUT US

Master Locho and Sarika Singh are renowned artists and teachers of Buddhist Paintings committed to the practice, preservation, and promotion of Buddhist art in its traditional form.

They reside in Dharamsala, India, in the Himalayan Mountains where they have established 'Center for Living Buddhist Art.' The Center includes ‘Thangde Gatsal Art School and Studio’ and Himalayan Art Museum’

'Himalayan Art Museum' connects us to the rich cultural heritage of India and Tibet. The museum aims to generate awareness about the Buddhist art through contemporary quality thangka works based on the tradition carried forward by Indian and Tibetan masters. This museum is a window to the 2,300 years old journey of the tradition of Buddhist paintings and the evolution of art through ages and geographies. The museum exhibits the finest master pieces created by Master Locho and Sarika Singh.

THANGKA PAINTINGS

Thangka Paintings are one of the most familiar forms of Buddhist paintings we see around. As Buddhist scroll paintings travelled from India to Tibet around the 7th century A.D., they were known as thangka paintings. Thangka paintings developed and flourished for over a thousand years in Tibet. After the occupation of Tibet in 1959, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama sought asylum in India. Tibetan masters and the artists carried with them the rich tradition of Buddhist paintings back to its Indian birthplace. India became the new soil for the preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist art and culture with Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh in Northern India, as its epicentre from where the Buddhist teachings and art was to spread to rest of the world.

MASTER LOCHO 


Master Locho is an eminent thangka painter. He was born on January 15, 1970, and presently resides in Dharamsala, India. Master Locho has studied thangka painting since 1988 under the guidance of Master Tempa Choephel, a Master teacher at the prestigious Norbulingka Institute located in Dharamsala. The Norbulingka Institute is a center for preserving Tibetan arts and culture, and Master Locho worked there as an artist and then as an Assistant Master until 2001.He is committed to the practice and preservation of the Buddhist Paintings in its traditional form and has transmitted this knowledge to students from over the globe. He is currently considered one of the finest and most senior teachers of Buddhist paintings and has created over 300 Paintings in his life over a period of 35 Years.

DR. SARIKA SINGH

After completing her graduation from the prestigious Lady Sri Ram College, University in the year 1997, Sarika was blessed with an opportunity to Buddhist thangka paintings at Norbulingka Institute in Dharamshala the tutelage of Master Tempa Choephel. In 2015, after studying Thangka painting, she pursued her Master’s degree in Buddhist and Tibetan studies from the Panjab University, Chandigarh. In 2021, she completed PhD from Central University of Himachal Pradesh. Co- founder of Centre for Living Buddhist Art and Himalayan Art Museum, she is perhaps the only Indian female Thangka painting masters in the world and is the main driving force behind preserving and promoting this ancient artform.