Showing 1 - 10 of 52
Art history
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 02/03/2017
» Montien Boonma, one of Thailand's most significant contemporary artists, died almost 17 years ago. The last time we had a proper glimpse of his art was in 2013 with "[Montien Boonma]: Unbuilt/Rare Works", a show by the Jim Thompson Art Centre and the Thai Art Archives in which his personal collection of documents, sketchbooks, notebooks, printed matter, photographs and video footage along with other related materials were put on display.
The art of activism
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 20/02/2017
» The Thai arts scene has become more politically engaging in the past couple of years. The 2014 coup, of course, has been the most significant transition point in this respect. Before, it was very much about making sense of the colour-coded divide, trying to get into the mentality behind such ideological conflict. In the post-coup era, however, it can be said that the ideas and interests have become somewhat more unified. Artists have become increasingly aware of and responded more to the authoritarian power and the climate of fear and rights restriction.
So much art, so little time
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 01/02/2017
» Chiang Mai got its fill last weekend, and now it's time for the Bangkok edition of Galleries' Night, organised by the French embassy. First of all, it just amazes you how active the scene is. Running on Friday and Saturday, there will be more than 40 galleries participating in the event where venues open late into the night.
Lion's share
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 27/01/2017
» The night was lively around the neighbourhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés last Saturday for the opening of this year's Paris Déco Off, an annual event where more than 100 home-furnishing-fabrics brands join to showcase their latest designs. But there was perhaps more buzzing than anywhere else down the quaint Rue de Furstenberg where the Jim Thompson showroom is situated.
Exposure is key to Chiang Mai photography exhibition
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 25/01/2017
» The room is red and hot, but nothing feels erotic about it. Eight naked models are featured in Tada Hengsapkul's latest photography show "The Things That Take Us Apart", yet it resulted not in a height of sexual tension but just a seemingly normal and civilised social gathering.
The case of the closing(?) Art Center
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 11/01/2017
» To close down or not to close down? One would have thought that that is not the question for Chulalongkorn University's The Art Center, after having been one of Thailand's most prominent art institutions for 20 years -- after playing host to some of Thailand's best-established artists as well as international names such as Joan Miró, Marina Abramovic, Zhang Peili and more.
Remaking the scene
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 21/12/2016
» It has been a busy year for the Thai art scene, with well-known artists taking turns treating Bangkok viewers to their latest works, new galleries welcomed and old ones closing down, and politics remaining deeply embedded in artistic expression.
Examining identity
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 16/11/2016
» A lot is going on in "Continuum: Acculturating", the latest exhibition at The Art Center at Chulalongkorn University. Jakkai Siributr, Jedsada Tangtrakulwong and Piyatat Hemmatat show different interests and practices, and with "acculturation" as the key idea, the result is three separate and complicated realms. In them, narratives and cultural identities -- those of the artists' origins and from the new environments they are looking at -- are constantly shifting and integrating.
By approval
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 26/10/2016
» The most pressing issue in the capital's art scene this month is, of course, the well-being of some hundred carp put in the temporary pool as part of photographer Rapat Bunduwanich's "Photo Festival", a show whose title tricks us into thinking that there are other people in the show.
Never forget
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 05/10/2016
» In a stage performance that just finished its run on Sunday, performers re-enacted scenes in which victims were hunted, beaten and strangled to death. In an art exhibition opening tomorrow, we'll see in paintings traces of atrocious scenes in the foreground while the surface is heavily smudged with paint, to the point of abstraction.