Per Kesselmar

Switzerland

Zürich

DIERKING

Painting

Pale Screen blue to red

Shine Copper

Gallery Dierking presents the exhibition Ganesha & his heavenly friends with masterpieces of ancient Asian art (from the Robert P. and Alice Y. Piccus Collection) and new works by gallery artists Otto Boll, Per Kesselmar and Christiane Löhr in its premises on Zurich’s Paradeplatz from December 2022 to March 2023.&#x20;

Significant artifacts from the indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and China are juxtaposed with contemporary artworks.

...Ganesha, the Hindu god with the elephant head, originally led a troop of dwarfish, semidivine demons from the retinue of Shiva, who is regarded as Ganesha’s father. Ganesh is one of the most popular gods in South-East Asia, worshipped equally by Hindus and Jains, sometimes in separate sanctuaries, on temple altars, or in processions attended by thousands of people. With the spread of Indian Brahmin culture to Southeast Asia, the cult of Ganesha reached the Khmer, Vietnam and Java as early as the 7th – 9th centuries, and later Thailand and Bali...

The sculptures are part of the renowned Robert P. and Alice Y. Piccus Collection (Hong Kong | San Francisco), which has been assembled since the 1960s.

“Possession entails responsibility to preserve - not only the art-work itself, but also the knowledge inherent in it. For us, the collection enriches the path of life. The works are faithful, cherished companions, as we hope they will be for others in the future.”Robert P. Piccus

The passionate collector couple was convinced that private collectors with commitment as well as expertise and knowledge of objects should live with cultural assets, take custody of them, assume temporary responsibility, and pass them on to following generations, as they have done for many decades.Contemporary works of art refer to the language of antiquities with different approaches. The works of Otto Boll and Per Kesselmar are similar in the dialogue between observation and perception. The viewer is drawn into the shared interplay of work, space, and positioning. Christiane Löhr’s works are minimalist, architectural, on the threshold of the macrocosm to the microcosm and complement the dialogue of antiquity with modernity.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog entitled GANESHA & his heavenly friends, published in collaboration with Michael Woerner Oriental Art and featuring objects from the Piccus Collection as well as European private collections.


GANESHA & HIS HEAVENLY FRIENDS (ground floor)

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