I was back in Bangkok when I started this post, relieved to be enjoying the hospitality of Venetia Walkey and Kun Inson Wongsam, who have graciously let me stay at their Bangkok apartment for my time here. Last week I was battling some kind
of very persistent illness- something like a flu that has kept me at about half-speed most of the past eight days in Bangkok- but I seem to have recovered after both anti-parasitic and antibiotic treatments. Today I'm in Nong Khai- arrived this morning. Here's a picture of the wacky sculpture park I visited today...more on the photos section soon!
After this long time away from blogging, it has a certain foreboding. There is no way I can treat all the artists I’ve met in the last few weeks in the kind of depth I have done before (which is a disadvantage to both the reader and to me, since these are some of my best notes for the book!). In any case, I am going to try to say something about why I chose to interview each of them, and put up as much art as is practical in a single blog entry.
In the next few weeks I intend to get a Thailand Spiritual Art category up on the web with an individual page for each of them. As I work my way around the world of contemporary spiritual art, I hope for this to become a pretty comprehensive “catalog” or database of artists working in the various spiritual traditions and paths.
Pierre Whittman: Francophone Swiss artist and healer living in Chiang Mai. Pierre is a practitioner of
Tantric Buddhism, a Reiki master, creator of healing art and ‘light installations,’ and compelling author. His book, “A Guide to Happiness for the Third Millenium” offers insight into a wide variety of spiritual and metaphysical themes, including a succinct description of how art (like nature) presents a portal to perceiving realms of existence beyond our ‘gross’ day-to-day reality. This article is on the web
here. There is much more to say about Pierre, but in the Thailand catalog, I will allow his own words and images to convey this, as he writes extremely eloquently about art, spirituality, and life. This piece, from his “Fragments of Light” series, really snapped my 3rd eye. More at his website. Visit. It’ll be good for you ☺
Phanthong Saenchun- Chiang Rai painter of devotional Buddhist art, most recently “green” series, depicting the “Legend of Chiang Saen,” which is a mythical temple in Northern Thailand, which Phanthong uses to simultaneously represent the grandeur of ancient wisdom, with flowers as light sources representing life in the present. There is clearly a lot of nostalgia at work here, but it can be better understood when linked with earlier work. In a previous series, Phanthong explored the Buddha in the context of technology and globalization- in an attempt to situate Buddhism in the present context, and to remind us not to lose sight of the Dhamma even in times of advancing technology and social turmoil. Phantong’s is interesting devotional work shrouded in traditional depictions of the Buddha, but expanded to circumstances where old meets new. Alas, I don’t have any photos of the “space Buddha” series (which I like), so here’s some of the Chiange Saen work standing alone. Hopefully we can show the future-oriented work in the final version.
Songdej Thipthong- Accomplished young Chiang Rai painter.
Portraits of Faith (2001 exhibition) is on the web. There is a certain “spiral” quality to Songdej’s complex devotional Buddhist art that I have not yet pinned down for myself yet. Perhaps, like Pornchai and Arnan, he communicates something about the authentic joy of the Northern Thai lifestyle and its (pure) relationship to Buddhism- in a peaceful place it is perhaps easier to live the Dhamma. Songdej was a gracious host on my birthday somewhere near Chiang Rai, with Phanthong and Sompong (below). I include only a picture of Songdej himself, playing with his and Sompong’s kids in front of one of his very large devotional works. More when his slides (Thank you, Songdej) are scanned.
Sompong Sarasap- Chiang Mai painter, art scene leader and organizer and owner of 9 Art Gallery and architecture studio. His solo exhibition at the National Gallery in February 2000 was titled
“Sompong 1997-1999” On the web is also a group exhibition titled
Unity (2002). Sompong’s work focuses on the most ordinary and every-day objects of rural Northern Thailand and Asia in general, such as the rice seed, and spins from them insights about culture and spirituality. This piece, titled “Friendship” is both simple and incredibly complex in the portrayal of a higher space created by two people coming together. And all from rice seeds, the “spirit of Asia.”
Kamin Lertchaiprasert Chiang Mai artist who marches to the beat of his own drummer. Kamin is a controversial figure in Thai art whose money Buddha (a sitting Buddha image made out of paper maché using onlyThai Baht) was featured at the 2003 Venice Biennial. Kamin brings intense discipline to his artwork- and has elaborated this over time- shows us art as spiritual practice and as a method to understand the “mind” (a poor translation of the Buddhist term which is what Ken Wilber and others refer to as the “BIG MIND.” His most notorious works include paper maché sculptures made one-a-day during the course of a year, drawn from personal experience and reading of the newspaper. On each, he penned his thoughts and then, a year later, returned to each to witness its resolution. In another, more recent series, Kamin combined art and meditation over a period of four years. Each day, he would meditate for one hour with a pencil in hand, drawing the pencil over paper with each breath in and out. The result was exhibited as a stack of over 1460 pages. Kamin’s intense practice of Vipissana meditation is central to his quest to know the mind, to know the nature of illusion. Unconcerned with the aesthetics of art, Kamin has merged his artistic and spiritual path into a unique “Raja Yoga.” Below are two that I particularly like…One, from a series titled, “The Buddha is in Desire” shows the essential Buddha nature of even the most flawed part of his own personality. The other, with Kamin himself represented by the onlooking piece, observes three carvings representing greed, false piety (or moral superiority), and sexual allure that are obstacles to true understanding of the mind.
Prasong Luemuang see also
2002 exhibition. Prasong meditates several hours a day, living in the serenity of his home province of Lamphun- near Chiang Mai, but closer to the Dhamma Park Gallery. Prasong’s art and spiritual practice are also deeply linked in a form that is similar to Kamin’s—he often paints to reflect the images of samsara (illusion) revealed in his meditation practice, and therefore can be said to exploring the “nature of mind” through his art. His most recent works, large-scale Buddha faces, reflect his experience of “the Light,” which is a serious landmark in Vipassana meditation and represents the a point of breaking through to a mindset that is “beyond good and evil,” (or righteous and unrighteous) because it approaches the limits of conceptual thought(s). I have to be honest that Prasong probably has the most “range” of all of the Buddhist artists I’ve met, in particular those who continue to create devotional works. His wrathful Buddha faces (below), the serene Buddha (2nd picture), and the pure dissonence of his more abstract work are all elements of his tremendous flexibility and, I’m sure, of his success as a leading Thai artist.
Roongroj Piamyossakalso works beyond conventional Buddhist narrative art, though not without direct reference to Buddha image. I don’t know if I can fully express how important Roongroj’s art is as a method of bringing the essence of Buddhist Dhamma to “the people.” He also has a wide flexibility of styles, having mastered the traditional Lana style of painting, and his older work reflects a traditional, devotional bent. More recently, his works have taken a decidedly “experiential” turn. Many of his recent mixed media/sculpture pieces prevent viewers with a paradox, juxtaposing emptiness and forms of Buddha and of well-known monks. Experiential “Buddha Chambers” are very special, presenting viewer with a 3-d (wrap-around) representation of the Buddha image, a mirror, and a field of emptiness conveyed through a textured metallic surface generating almost no reflection. Buddha, form identity, emptiness… “Same same” as they say in Asia. Unlike Kamin’s work, it is challenging because it is experiential, but in a celebratory, direct, and almost “tender” way…
Helen Jandamit: English spiritual teacher, ordained Buddhist Reverend in the Korean tradition, committed to some very direct ways of spreading Buddhist Dhamma. Helen was a joy to spend the afternoon with when I arrived to Bangkok. She revealed in our conversation that her art had been “simmering” for a number of years, and that in fact, she had been discouraged by other spiritual advisors from creating images to narrate or share her spiritual development. Finally within the last couple of years, this “broke,” the torrent of accumulated creative energy overtook her, and she began painting (again). I think this describes an interesting issue is somewhat controversial among spiritual practitioners. Many teachers who are not themselves visual artists discourage the creation of visual representations of spiritual experience citing the risk of attachment to the images themselves. That is, focus on the divine, not on a visual-conceptual interpretation. Yet, for those of us who express and validate our progress on a spiritual path through art, or for whom our higher self (or, if you prefer, eternal emptiness) expresses itself through visual art, this can be pretty chilling. I hope Helen’s work serves as an inspiration to others to let the flow happen without attachment to the results, and without doubt in the validity of this expression.
Ahjan Thongchai Srisukprasert, Artist, professor @ Silpakorn University faculty of Painting principally working with abstract expressions of spiritual themes. Ahjan Thongchai confided that his work is “half spiritual,” (though he clarified that it is actually “half religious,”). Thongchai’s excellent work is more conceptual and abstract, though he also has achieved mastery of the visual language of direct Buddhist narrative. He has developed a visual language of semi-abstract expression that is both extremely Thai and at the same time, bold and unique. His images are fluid and dynamic, and the combination of textural surfaces with these spiraling forms composed of traditionally Thai forms are unusual among the art of Thailand. I’m going to give Thongchai short-shrift here in the text department, but will let three works show his immense talent and versatility.
Metha Kongsonthi is a younger artist who is clearly a rising star in the Thai spiritual art world. At 34, he is the youngest talent I have met, and having passed through a period of working in Buddhist symbolism, has taken some very interesting turns in the past several years. He resides near Bangkok and currently has a special Creativity Grant from Silpakorn, which artists of the caliber of Alongkorn have held in the past. Like Alongkorn, his early devotional work tends towards the fantastic, though the first image below, titled “Buddha,” hints at his future, more abstract directions. Of this, he says, “The core of Buddhism is the teaching, not the image, so I deleted all the images. Since this time, Metha has continued in a direction favoring abstract images, noting in our interview that the really important thing is the nature of mind, and mind is abstract. Two images below give you a clue of where he’s going. Direct abstract expressionism comprised his second phase, while in a third, attention turned to a mandala-esque series of round objects. In the most recent work, these meet, with the round mandala (representing the universe and dhamma) washed over by the stream of mind- not pristine (this is, after all, the nature of phenomenal existence), but eternal, essential. The three below shows the evolution of his work over several years.
PICTURES
A couple of other people that I need to mention…first and foremost, I had the pleasure of meeting Ahjan Lertsiri Bovornkitti, Proferssor at Burapha University who completed doctoral thesis in 2002 on Thai Spiritual Art (introduced by Ahjan Ithipol Thangchalok- many thanks) http://www.rama9art.org/artisan/2002/august/spirituality/index.html
If you’re interested in reading further on this topic, I suggest his two excellent pieces at the following links:
Short introduction to Thai Contemporary Art, co-authored by Lertsiri Bovornkitti
Spirituality in Art: Buddhist Values in Thailand- Published in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand, by Lertsiri Bovornkitti
In addition, several Thai artist portfolios are hosted at
iklekticAhjan Panya V. Ahjan Ithipol ThangchalokTaiwatchai Somkong Ahjan Thavorn Ko Udomvit
basically complete, and enjoying a more relaxed environment. I've enrolled in a yoga and meditation course at the Agama Yoga Center, which was, I think, a good step. While Thailand is famed for its beaches and relaxing vacation spots, the last two months have been solid work, and a week of twice-daily yoga practice and a community of a hundred or so people- many of whom have intelligent things to say about what I'm writing about- seems like a good place to synthesize my recent experiences. The photo here is borrowed from the Internet, but I will send/post some "postcard shots" soon!
