Michael Bühler-Rose

Michael Bühler-Rose (b. 1980, U.S.A.) lives and works in New York City. Bühler-Rose has been a student of the Vaishnava branch of Hinduism since the age of 14. Having studied Sanskrit and philosophy for many years in India, he is today an ordained Brahmin priest. He received his BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005), and his MFA from the University of Florida, Gainesville (2008). He is both a Critic in the Department of Photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and purohita (Hindu priest) and his work on these platforms influence his artistic production. His study and practice of Vaishnavism, Sanskrit, kalpa (ritual), and philosophy have prompted extended stays in India, including one as a Fulbright Fellow. In his photographs, videos and installations he explores the relationship between the art object and the artist, as a parallel to a venerated deity and a priest, and aesthetic experience as ultimately religious. Bühler-Rose has exhibited work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005 and 2010); Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi (2006); Bose Pacia, New York City (2008 and 2009); Carroll and Sons, Boston (2010); Chatterjee and Lal, Mumbai (2011); Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, (2012); Nature Morte, Delhi (2012) and Berlin (2013); as well as with SK Stiftung Kultur/Die Photographische Sammlung at Art Cologne (2007). His work is held in the Harvard Fogg Museum, Cambridge; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; and in the Die Photographische Sammlung, Cologne.