Thailand goes to Venice

FRIDAY, APRIL 07, 2017
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Thailand goes to Venice

Somboon Hormtientong, an abstract artist whose work is widely recognised by the local and international art scene, will represent Thailand at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, with “Krung Thep Bangkok” showing at the Thai Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Castello 1260 from May 10 to 12 from 10am to 6pm.

Curated by Numthong Sae Tang, with the support of the Thai Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC), the exhibition at the Thai Pavilion presents Somboon’s installation, sculpture, drawings, and videos.
The artist’s Bangkok differs from the perception commonly held by tourists or those unfamiliar with the city. Seeing beyond the surface of urbanisation and the capital’s skyscrapers, the artist looks deeply into the narratives in the social lives of ordinary people. He examines their ways of life through mundane items of different functions and backgrounds, which underline the beauty disguised in each object in his installation.
One of the challenges facing the artist while working on the exhibition at the Thai Pavilion was to deal with the space that was once a busy restaurant and not originally designed for exhibition. Through his installation, Hormtientong creates inside the space the calmness in which viewers can find and experience aesthetics in their own subjective ways, from their interaction with his work. Such calmness, which clashes with the hectic surroundings around the Pavilion, will entice the audience to enter a peaceful state where they can analyse and interpret, ask questions and seek answers, or even connect their own experience with the stories in his work.
A fully illustrated catalogue is being released in May in conjunction with the exhibition and features essays by Dr Chetana Nagavajara.

 

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