Friday, November 25, 2022
Moke Moketoff has passed : in the eighties I was a struggling painter in amongst many in the east village, it was very dangerous but exiting time as there were lots of galleries shows and art activity, rents for studios were cheap but it was a heady mix of hype, ambition and danger- I had a friend named Ben Izette who was part of a group show - in 86 I think,mostly neoexpressionists in a huge space way down on ave. D . ,at that time a really rugged area.
That was the first time I met Moke he was the owner and curator- after viewing my friends show , he took us downstairs from the main gallery and showed us a room where he showed perhaps the first large collection of Tibetan thankas i ever saw,,,at that time I did not really understand them
Or know the iconography by but it made a deep imprint- In between that time I became Buddhist but that’s another story-suffice to say that I found myself amongst his teachers in the West Coast where I moved after the eighties where I studied with many of Mokes lamas from his Berkeley days . Moke had had a rich experience in Berkeley before I knew him.especially Lama Tharchin rinpoche and Lama KUNGA Rinpoche , who he was perhaps closest to.
I moved back to nyc in the mid nineties and wandered into his gallery which by then has moved to an elegant space on Broadway and Prince street on the upper floor- Mokotoff Asian arts. I had seen shows there during the Kalachakra time in 91.
I needed work and he hired me where for a brief time we mounted exhibits of contemporary painters who painted inspired by Tibetan imagery and method, and showed his high end collection of Thankas and sculptures. We also hosted a variety of visiting Rinpoche’s among them Lama KUNGA from Kensington and Tulku Thondrup
from Boston and others- at that time the internet was new and I had studied multimedia in s f and we also began an early proto type version of a Tibetan art database which eventually became Himalan art resource . After I left at some point he was approached by Donald Rubin and became the Initial and often uncredited advisor of his collection which eventually became the Rubin museum.One time he introduced me to Donald a Rubin and said” this is Eric, he’s a Buddhist” and Donald said to me “ Oh , does that mean you never have a negative emotion?” And Moke said” no Donald, Eric is a Buddhist, not a Buddha” I think in a way this sort of sums up how Moke guided Rubin!!
Moke was a practitioner and an art dealer so he had a unique relationship with the art , not solely as a dealer in objects. He was a major sponsor of monesteries in Nepal and in the west , especially the Sakya’s, but many many others. One of the things he sponsored which was really powerful was the healing Chod tours of the Zangdokpalri Tsolingpang nuns .These were amazing events where everyone would lie on the floor while the nuns chanted healing Chod’s around you- which are healing prayers this group of nuns specialized in creating a very powerful energy .He also was an early supporter of Students for A free Tibet and lent his space out for their use. He used his business savvy to raise money and support for many many dharma activities and Rinpoche’s and while being a successful businessman was also always sort of a counter culture Berkeley kind of guy.
In later years he happily married and moved upstate but I would always run into him at the Rubin museum and it would often be just in time for him to announce to me “ Lama Tharchin is upstate this weekend!” And he would sort of be a conduit of events that I valued.
On writing this what’s clear is in my life he was a guide and mentor for many of my dharma experiences on both coasts and had a knowledge and depth that is hard to match. He will be deeply missed.
