Pema Rinzin was born in Tibet in 1966 and grew up in Dharamsala, India, where he studied with Kalsang Oshoe, Khepa Gonpo, Rigdzin Paljor, and other master artists from 1979 to 1983. Rinzin subsequently taught Art History and cartoon drawing for eight years at the Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala. From 1995 to 2004, he worked and taught at the Shoko-ji Cultural Research Institute in Nagano, Japan. From 2002 to 2005, he divided his time between Japan and Wurzburg, Germany, where he was an artist-in-residence at the Brush & Color Studio. From 2005 to 2008, Rinzin was an artist-in-residence at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. In the Artist-in-Residence Showcase, his works were exhibited alongside paintings from the RMA collection ranging from the 1400’s to 2000’s. His paintings have been exhibited internationally and are held in public and private collections worldwide, most notably at the Shoko-ji Cultural Research Institute in Nagano, Japan, and the Rubin Museum of Art. As of 2009 he left the traditional painting realm and cultivated his contemporary art practice.
Pema Rinzin lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he founded the New York Tibetan Art Studio. Rinzin is currently represented by Joshua Liner Gallery in New York and working as an independent curator.
