THE CROWN IN ALL ITS GLORY

The chada (Thai crown) is the subject matter for Nakrob Moonmanas’s first full- scale installation art exhibition, “Coronets”, at Thong Lor Art Space. It will wrap up on Feb 20.

Moving away from his well- established 2D collage illustration art, the emerging artist turns to take viewers to examine the classical object of chada as an embodiment of power and fantasy through the lens of Thai culture.

The exhibition looks at both physical and abstract elements of

chada, its extensive height, elaborate gold decoration, the weight on the wearer’s head, and how it allows the wearer to take a role in fanL tasy tales and assume a sense of the dominating power that it offers. B

Viewers are invited to take on the forbidden task of interpreting this high- art head ornament frozen in time as a contemporary art object on display, free from its firmly intertwined context of royalty and its associated dance.

Instead of being made from solid gold, typical chada in the modern context is made of a papier- mâché- type material decorated with gold paint and mirrors. Apparently, without inherent value,

chada can commonly be found in commercial performances, as film props and in ram kae-bon ceremonial dances.

The exhibited chada, however, has been made by a veteran local

chada- maker with an exaggerated and intentional distortion, yet without a sacred blessing from a traditional dance master. Viewers are free to inspect the object from historical and contemporary angles, and/ or to feel offended.

The exhibition can be viewed daily from 1- 8pm, except tomorrow and Feb 14. Thong Lor Art Space is on Sukhumvit 55.

Call 085- 910-3680.