DRAWING ON BUDDHISM

Thai art has both inspired and been inspired by art from around the world, writes Kaona Pongpipat

‘London notables attend opening of first Siamese art exhibition,” reads the Bangkok Post headline from March 17, 1948, when Prof Silpa Bhirasri, who was at the opening of the first-ever Siamese exhibition in London, introduced to guests the profound influence Buddhism had on Siamese art.

“He trusted that there were sufficient examples of Siamese art to illustrate their exceptional spiritual qualities which reflected the nature and outlook of the people,” the report reads. For the past 70 years, art reporting by the

Bangkok Post has covered all — from the beginning of Western influence on Thai art in Prof Silpa’s time, into the modern period with masters such as Fua Haripitak, Thawan Duchanee, Chalermchai Kositpipat and Montien Boonma, right up to the contemporary era, with art that departs from pure aesthetics to become more socially and politically charged, with Thai artists more widely exposed internationally.

In 1949, the Post covered the country’s first National Exhibition of Art, an initiation by Prof Silpa, who helped found Silpakorn University and who is considered the father of Thai modern art. Khien Yimsiri won first prize for his sculpture Klui

Thip (Magic Flute), while Misiem Yipintsoi won top prize for her painting Dreamers Avenue. When Prof Silpa died in 1962, the Bangkok

Post described the Italian-born sculptor as “a lover of all things Thai, who had spent more than half his life in Thailand, devoted to works for Thailand, he was considered by the Thai people as one of them”.

In 1964, the newspaper reported His Majesty the King’s participation in the 15th National Art Exhibition. The King’s paintings demonstrated the striking influence of contemporary European artists such as Edvard Munch and Oskar Kokoschka. Such works illustrated the trend in Thai art to embrace such movements as Impressionism and, later, Cubism.

Since the 1970s, Thai art history has seen a constant struggle between traditional aesthetics and the influence of modernism from the West. One of the leading figures in the 70s was Thawan Duchanee, whose progressive interpretation of Buddhism in his works marked a shift in the way Thai art was trying to breakk away from old traditions.

In 1984, artists Chalermchai Kositpipaat and Panya Vijinthanasarn made headlines in the

Post with their commission to paint a vast mural telling the life story of the Lord Buddha at a Thai temple in London. This illustrated how Buddhism was still very much the main subject of many celebrated artists in that period.

Likewise, Montien Boonma, who started to emerge in both the Thai and international art scenes in the late 80s, focused very much on Buddhist philosophy despite the modernist form of his installations and sculptures.

In 2003, Thailand made its long-overdue debut at the Venice Biennale with seven acclaimed artists — Kamol Phaosawasdi, Tawatchai Puntusawasdi, Michael Shaowanasai, Vasan Sitthiket, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Montri Toemsombat and Sakarin Krue-On — under a show titled “Reverie and Phantasm in the Epoch of Global Trauma”.

However, it was really Rirkrit Tiravanija who has since the 90s put Thailand on the global map with his “relational art” practices such as cooking meals for gallery-goers. His works have continued to inspire many artists, most notably Korakrit Arunanondchai.