bangkok RepoRt IN THE NEW SIAM Refusing to be constrained by tradition, neglect or touristic clichés, vanguard Thai artists deftly engage the modern world. BY GREGORY GALLIGAN SINCE THE LATE 1990s “Asian contemporary” has been largely defined by the progressive Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian art featured in global biennials, museum shows, commercial galleries and auctions. Recently, however, the bursting of the economic bubble in the world’s most highly developed nations has allowed avant-garde art in Southeast Asia—Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and even politi- cally oppressed Myanmar—to emerge from the shadows and offer new possibilities for the future. At the center of this development is the contemporary art scene of Thailand, currently concentrated in Bangkok, the nation’s capital, and Chiang Mai, a comparatively relaxed city in the northwestern region of the country. (The provincial out- post—relatively cheap and milder in climate—offers residency programs, collectives, a university arts center and a small but growing number of Manit Sriwanichpoom: Pink Man Opera #3: Do not export family secrets; commercial galleries, all some 430 do not import trouble from outside, miles away from the grimy turmoil of of the 1990’s. Long identified with 2009, C-print, 20 by 24 inches. Bangkok.) Over the past two decades, Thailand, where he has resided on and the country’s experimental artists have off over the years, the globe-trotting increasingly exhibited in Asia, America artist continues to inspire a new gen- and Europe. In addition, Thailand eration of Bangkok-based colleagues, corruption, political factionalism and has sponsored a national pavilion at who tend to be less interested in paint- raucous, even violent social upheaval. four consecutive Venice Biennales ing and sculpture than in time-based Earlier this year, the looming specter since 2003, a record unmatched by and often interactive projects. of a return to power by former prime any of its Southeast Asian neighbors. A constitutional monarchy since 1932 minister Thaksin Shinawatra weighed Sculptor and installation artist Montien with a current population of 65 million, heavily on the capital’s contemporary Boonma (1953-2000), known for meld- Thailand is sometimes patronizingly art community. Elected by popular ing Buddhist beliefs with a modernist described in the international press vote in 2001, Shinawatra was driven sensibility, was posthumously honored as a “land of smiles”—a stereotype from office by a military coup in 2006, by a major retrospective—“Montien fostered by the country’s indefati- after being widely accused of subvert- Boonma: Temple of the Mind”—at New gable tourism industry, which plays ing the constitution and abusing his York’s Asia Society and Museum in to the West’s persistent desire to see position for personal profit. Although 2003 [see A.i.A., Feb. ’04]. And Rirkrit Southeast Asia as a Bali Hai of sensual Thailand’s progressive artists doubtless Tiravanija, born in Brazil in 1961 to Thai indulgences. At the same time, this benefited from Shinawatra’s promotion parents, gained worldwide attention primarily Buddhist nation, though never of rapid modernization and “boutique” with his food-sharing “stir fry” events colonized, has long been beset by civic consumerism, most of them regard June /July’10 art in america 67 the self-made telecommunications tycoon as an unqualified enemy of open expression and a free press. At this writing, his supporters continue to rally, although Shinawatra himself has gone into hiding in Cambodia, following the confiscation of $1.4 billion of his assets by the Thai supreme court. ONE TANGIBLE OUTComE of Thailand’s accelerated moderniza- tion since the turn of the millennium is the capital’s new municipally spon- sored contemporary art museum, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), which opened in the fall of 2008 after a decade of intense lob- bying by Bangkok’s vanguard art community. (Many were irate that the National Gallery of Thailand, in a city awash with historical sites and museums, offers only a tiny collection of modernist art and a few hit-or- miss shows of contemporary work.) Viewed from its cavernous atrium, the divergent directions. Largely honorific THE BANGKOK ART AND BACC’s nine levels—two additional or socially didactic shows—local art CULTURE CENTRE’S subterranean floors accommodate school graduation thesis surveys, ECLEctICISM STEMS FROM an art library and a capacious audi- tributes to the royal court—alternate ITS LATE ARRIVAL ON AN torium—draw one’s eye up a series with more scholarly undertakings. ART SCENE ALREADY of concentrically stacked rings. No Typical of the latter, “Krungthep 226” WELL DEVELOPED—AND philosophically inspired nautilus, the brought together architectural models, structure was conceived as a consum- replicas of classical murals, paintings, ONE ABOUT TO EVOLVE er magnet, sited within a stone’s throw sculptures, photographs and numer- BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION. of Bangkok’s new luxury shopping ous other works (the roster exceeded mecca, Siam Paragon. In fact, the first 100 artists) to celebrate Bangkok’s three stories above the rotunda were modernization. (“Krungthep” is a short designed to accommodate brand- form of the city’s elaborate ceremonial designed or contributed to 18 figurative name retailers; the art museum proper name, and 226 the number of years monuments in Thailand, nine of them begins on the fifth floor. from Bangkok’s formal inception as a in Bangkok. Although his own work After dealing with myriad infrastruc- municipality to the 2008 exhibition.) remained formally conventional, Feroci ture problems (the building, by the Between the late fall of 2009 and the founded a school in 1937 that quickly American-run, Bangkok-based firm early spring of 2010, three succes- became a conduit for various modernist Robert G. Boughey and Associates, sive BACC exhibitions—“Twist and “-isms” from abroad and expanded, originally lacked proper lighting sys- Shout,” “Trans-Cool Tokyo” and “Thai in 1943, into Silpakorn University, tems and adequate security features), Yo”—testified to the local appeal of Bangkok’s premier art academy. Artists acting BACC director Chatvichai contemporary art and popular cul- of the immediate post-Feroci/Bhirasri era Promadhattavedi has achieved a deli- ture from Japan. The first two shows are today some of the country’s most cate balance between the museum’s surveyed young Japanese artists; the accomplished practitioners, sharing commercial and nonprofit aspects, third presented 30 Thai artists and his intense regard for artworks as well- carefully orchestrating a number of designers influenced by manga and wrought objects of visual contemplation. small shops and display areas—art other vernacular Japanese sources. Painter and sculptor Chatchai Puipia galleries and temporary project spaces It may well be that the BACC’s eclec- (b. 1964), for example, makes expres- as well as privately run art supply ticism stems from its late arrival to an sionistic self-portraits that reflect a stores, cafés and specialty book- art scene already well developed—and troubled personal attempt to recon- shops—within the “Art-rium” section of one about to evolve beyond all recogni- cile Thai cultural heritage with the the building. The museum’s long-term tion. Western-style modern art made new world of unbridled consumer- mission, however, awaits full articula- its first inroads in Thailand in the 1920s, ism (and simultaneous political and tion. Under Promadhattavedi, whose with the arrival in Bangkok (by invitation social unrest). For the “Pink Man” status remains tentative despite his of King Rama VI) of the Italian academic photo series (1997-present), Manit expertise in cultural development, sculptor Corrado Feroci (1892-1962). Sriwanichpoom (b. 1961) photographs the BACC has attempted to be all Also known as Silpa Bhirasri (a name a Thai everyman, played repeatedly by things to all audiences, its exhibi- he adopted as a permanent expatriate the same model in various urban cir- tions tugging one’s attention in widely and highly influential teacher), the artist cumstances. Dressed in a trademark 68 art in america June /July’10 bangkok RepoRt Left, view of Pinaree Sanpitak’s whose stylized alms bowls, lotus blos- The Mirror, 2009 (foreground), soms and breast-stupa forms provide a and Brilliant Blue, 2008 (on wall). Courtesy Tyler Rollins Fine Art, respite from ceaseless urban confusion. New York. Richard Tsao (b. 1954), long based in New York but closely linked to his Right, Surat Osathanugrah: Thaka Floating Market, Mahasarakham Thai homeland, creates thickly layered, Province, 1999, inkjet print mounted encrusted canvases distantly influenced on aluminium, 58 3⁄4 by 39 inches; by Abstract Expressionism and Color at Bangkok University Gallery. Field painting but with a palette born in Below, Jakapan Vilasineekul: the flower market of Bangkok. The Lost Angel, 2004, Thai canoe, Other artists in the Feroci/Bhirasri bronze dolls, sand, motors and lineage combine their studio practice mixed mediums; in “Traces of a Siamese Smile” at the Bangkok Art with university teaching. Jakapan and Culture Centre. Vilasineekul (b. 1964), on the faculty of Silpakorn University, makes wry, large-scale assemblages that mix found objects (e.g., a stuffed elephant’s head) with created forms. Be Takerng Pattanopas (b. 1965), of Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok’s Harvard), evokes the vul- nerability of the human body, and the presence later trained in conceptualist and of inner spirituality, in process-oriented methods at the highly steel sculptures that experimental Staatliche Hochschule allow one to peep into für Bildende Künste (Städelschule) illuminated cavities filled in Frankfurt. This background has with intense color. Kamol become fairly typical, as many new- Phaosavasdi (b. 1958), generation Thai have studied and/or also of Chulalongkorn, shown their work abroad. After gradu- frequently employs ation, Phinthong made a three-month multiple video moni- overland journey home to Thailand. His tors to show sublime solo debut, “Missing Objects” (2005), landscapes and other at Chulalongkorn University Art Center, meditative subjects.