Tsering Thundup describes his style as "realist," and indeed, you can almost hear the laughter of the children and the sighs of the wrinkled nomads he renders on canvas. Tsering Dorje, who trained at the Shanghai Academy of Arts and the Beijing School of Arts, has a style Barkley describes as "reminiscent of Van Gogh." Their medium is oil—an artistic tradition that is less than 40 years old in Tibet. Tsering Thundup trained at the Northwest Nationality College in Langzhou, where he was introduced to the medium. "When I saw my first oil painting, I thought, ‘What a waste of paint!’" he says. "Now I think the strong colours are a good way to express our Tibetan life in depth--so different from the life you see from the eyes." He believes in the importance of freeing artists from the stylistic rigours of traditional work. "Rules kill the talent. Painters need to discover their own way so that their artistry can be free," he says.

Tsering Dorje and Tsering Thundup will exhibit their work as part of The Banff Centre’s Media & Visual Arts Open House on Tuesday, October 16^th. The Open House will take place from 2:30 to 5:00 in Glyde Hall, studios 6 & 7. The artists are currently preparing for an exhibit of their paintings at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. The exhibit is curated by Lori Ellis, and is aptly named Nourishing Places: Expressions of Home. The exhibit opens at the Whyte Museum on October 13 and runs until January 16. Adults $6; students & seniors $3.50; families $15.