Kenro Izu: Rubin Museum of Art

After years of pilgrimage to sacred landscapes and spiritual monuments, the photographer Kenro Izu has turned his masterful lens to the sacred within. Bhutan, the Sacred Within is his final work in a trilogy on this theme, and the second to be premiered at the Rubin Museum of Art. Izu takes the people of Bhutan and their particular blending of an indigenous religion and Buddhist thought as his subject. The meticulously crafted portraits he has made express the purity of those beliefs and their resonance in the larger world of today. These photographs were made during the period of 2002-2007. The photograph which illustrates this post was made at the Jambay Lhakhang in Bumthang (Bhutan), one of the destinations of my photo expedition in October 2006.

So mark your calendars for Kenro Izu's photographic exhibition, Bhutan, the Sacred Within, from November 2, 2007–Spring 2008 at the aesthetically perfect Rubin Museum of Art at 150 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011. I hope to attend it as soon as it opens, and will post a report on TTP. I met Mr Izu during a previous exhibition at the Rubin, and he struck me as an incredibly humble and humane artist. It's no surprise that he built Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in January 1999, of which he has been responsible for its operation since then.

It'll be very interesting to see how a master of the large format...a superb photographer of sacred architectural structures and temples...applies his artistry over portraits. Bhutan, the Sacred Within promises to be an event to be savored and remembered by photographers and non-photographers alike.

Mr Izu will also be giving a PhotoTalk at the Rubin Museum on Saturday, November 3, 2007. Tim McHenry is the Director of Programming, who is widely credited for setting up incredible programs at the Museum.

For details, visit Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art