Mark Abrahamson, Vintage Photograph Cibachrome Barkhor Bazaar Colorful Silk Vibrant Photo Print, 1986

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Mat measures 20 X 26 sight measures 13 X 19.5

Barkhor Bazaar is one of the most famous of all … Read more Mat measures 20 X 26 sight measures 13 X 19.5

Barkhor Bazaar is one of the most famous of all places to go shopping in Lhasa. This circuitous street, that encompasses the world famous Jokhang Temple, is the best place to go to get authentic, local-made souvenirs from Tibet. One of the oldest streets in Lhasa, Barkhor Street was developed along with the Buddhist Jokhang Temple in the early part of the seventh century. Originally just a path around the temple, trodden by the weary feet of the thousands of pilgrims who came to pray at the magnificent temple built by the first Tibetan King, Songtsen Gampo, the route itself is full of cultural and religious significance. With a history going back over 1,300 years, Barkhor Street is now a major part of the culture and religion of Lhasa and Tibet, and plays an important role in Tibetan Buddhism.

Mark Abrahamson is an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1944. Mark completed a BA at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and a DDS at University of Washington, Seattle. Abrahamson creates aerial photographs that depict abstract patterns found in the landscape. He notes that his work focuses on "the United States’ urban and rural environments, examining how man has altered the landscape, affected our watersheds and contributed to climate change." An environmental advocate, his project "Global Warming: An American Perspective" features lectures and photographs based on 20 years of experience documenting changes in the landscape. Part of artist Mark Abrahamson's portfolio of photographs taken in Tibet in the 1980's. This photograph highlights the rich colors Mark Abramson encountered there, and he notes: "Tibetan colors are bold and lavishly used in clothing, jewelry, for decorative purposes in public and private places, and in the many visual manifestations of their religion." This has been described as a silver bleach print. It is marked cibachrome verso. Cibachrome prints are created from color transparencies – typically slides – by a system completely different from traditional color prints to maximize sharpness, color intensity, clean whites and critical accuracy to the original slide. Ilfochrome, (formerly known as Cibachrome) is a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process used for the reproduction of slides on photographic paper. The prints are made on a dimensionally stable triacetate polyester base, essentially a plastic base opposed to traditional paper base. Since it uses azo dyes on a polyester base, the print will not fade, discolor, or deteriorate for a long time. Characteristics of Ilfochrome prints are image clarity, color purity, more environmentally safe, as well as being an archival process able to produce critical accuracy to the original slide.
Mark Abrahamson received 2006 GAP Award funding to complete and promote work on the “Global Warming” portion of his series Watershed Investigations. Using aerial photography, Mark describes changes in the earth’s topography caused by human interference. “Global Warming” will concentrate on depicting geographical changes in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Portions of the series to be completed include photographs of melting glaciers in the North Cascades. The new work will travel nationally over the coming year.
Mark also received GAP Awards in 1991, 1995, and 2001, and a 2002 Fellowship.

Select Exhibitions
2001 OK Harris, New York, NY (solo)
2001 National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (solo)
2001 Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ (solo)
2001 H20 Project, Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida, Panama City
2001 Active Stills, Bruce Gallery, Edinboro, PA
2001 Art Is, Fulton Street Gallery, Troy, NY
2000 Abstractions, Andrews Gallery , College of William & Mary , Williamsburg, V A
2000 Environmental Solutions, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
2000 Sprawl: Reflections on Urban Development, Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ
2000 Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY (solo)
2000 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (solo)
2000 Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, W A (solo)
1999 Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY (solo)
1999 A V A, Chattanooga, TN (solo)
1999 The Art Center in Orange, Orange, V A (solo)
1999 Northwest Biennial: The End, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, W A
1999 Luminous Code: Photo-Based Artworks, TFAA, Austin, TX
1999 Civic Responsibility, Catharine Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1998 Scale, relatively speaking, Art in General, New York, NY
1998 Nancy Moore Fine Art, New York, NY (solo) See less