The thing is Korakrit Arunanondchai is coming to town. And whether you love or hate the denim-clad, fiery-haired New York-based artist, it's very likely that, starting this weekend, he will be pretty much taking over the Bangkok art scene.
This Friday at The Jim Thompson Art Center it's the opening of Korakrit's video trilogy show "2012-2555, 2556 and 2557". Over at Bangkok Citycity Gallery on Sunday, it's an opening of his latest exhibition "Painting With History In A Room Filled With People With Funny Names 3" which was shown at Palais de Tokyo last year, and a Thailand premiere of his fourth film which serves as an epilogue to the previous three films. But if neither a colourful room full of mannequins nor a video of a gangster/rapper performance artist exploring both spiritualism in Thailand and the creation of himself as a painter are not to your liking, there are always other options.
By now, what you should already have seen is Mit Jai Inn's new abstract painting exhibition "Wett" at Gallery Ver so the other major show to catch is, of course, "Thailand Eye", a group exhibition of 23 Thai artists which has made a trip back after a show at Saatchi Gallery in London.
Let's get one thing straight about this massive show on the eighth floor of BACC -- it does have its bland moments like Panya Vijinthanasarn's mixed media on car hoods or Paweena Raksasna's embroidery works. Yet it's refreshing to see works by up-and-coming artists like Kawita Vatanajyankur and Viriya Chotpanyavisut.
We have already seen many of Kawita's works in her solo show at The Jam Factory earlier this year, and what the additional, previously unseen piece featured does here is complete the palette in her paintings through the use of video.
Viriya's photography series verges between documentary and abstract art and if you can't get enough of this, he has another solo show, "Unnoticed Light", currently on view at Schemata Gallery at Liberty Plaza, Thonglor.
Again, the idea of photography as a documenting tool and a means in creating fine art clash here. Concerned with impending environmental crises like climate change, the photographer set out to observe the seemingly normal environment around him.
A photograph from Sirima Chaipreechawit's exhibition 'Danse Macabre'.
There are photos of a deserted and littered beach, a bird's-eye-view shot of waves washing the sand or an awe-inspiringly massive banyan tree. Through the traditional printing process of cyanotype, these photographs came out bluish. As if to stress that any major crisis always starts from even the smallest elements, his subjects -- a school of fish, a leaf or a scatter of rocks -- were taken so close-up that they are at times difficult to make out. With the process of cyanotype involving the exposure of these prints to sunlight, the unpredictability of the result once again stresses both the beauty and perils of nature taking its course.
At Kathmandu Photo Gallery, a photographic series "Danse Macabre" by Sirima Chaipreechawit is beautiful yet imbued with tragic undertones. Documenting post-earthquake Kathmandu, Sirima's take on the concept of danse macabre is given an optimistic twist. The lower halves of her notable subject -- the children -- were photographed so that they appear to be in dancing motion, not to death according to the traditional sense of "danse macabre", but cheerfully back to the state of normalcy.
In addition to Mit's works at Gellery Ver, abstraction also abounds elsewhere, namely at Serindia Gallery with Sudaporn Teja's "Purify" and Angkrit Ajchariyasophon's series of abstract paintings as part of a duo exhibition "Contour" with photographer Tawatchai Pattanaporn. Having viewed Mit's breathtaking new works beforehand, one can't help but take the two into comparison. While some of Sudaporn's pieces like Escapade and Element are alive with layers of colours and hidden narratives, the only thing Angrit's works excite is a sense of apathy.
Yes, there are so many stories behind his series -- it has come as a project worked with people in the tsunami-devastated town Rikuzentakata and the series is inspired by "White On White" of Russian artist Kazimir Malevich and "Spectrum V" of American artist Ellsworth Kelly -- but at the end of the day, it's down to just viewers and the works in front of you, nothing in between.
Tawatchai Pattanaporn's photography series that makes up the other half of the show, however, is excellent.
Contact kaonap@bangkokpost.co.th with comments or news on art events.
