Reviews of Flavours - Thai Contemporary Art
1. The Nation Newspaper, Bangkok, 31st January, 2004
2. Gavroche no. 116, Bangkok, Fev 2004 (in French)
3. Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong, 27th February, 2004
4. Bangkok Post, Bangkok, 6 March, 2004
5. Asian Art News, Hong Kong, Vol 14 No 5, 2004
1. The Nation Newspaper, Bangkok, 31st January, 2004
by Phatarawadee Phataranawik
The way we are
A British observer of Thai art compiles a magnificent treatise on our best and brightest.
The contemporary Thai arts scene has generated considerable excitement both at home and abroad in the past two decades, the credit due entirely to all those young, hard-working local curators, artists, dealers and critics, and little if any to tight-fisted governments. And it’s a scene that’s become easier to follow thanks to the interest shown by the daily newspapers and a few art magazines and websites. But rarely is the big picture laid out in book form. That’s a gap Bangkok-based Briton Steven Pettifor has tried to fill with “Flavours: Thai Contemporary Art”, published by the Thavibu Gallery.
Pettifor, 36, knows his subject matter well. He graduated with degrees in fine arts from both the Wimbledon School of Art and Liverpool Polytechnic. He’s been writing about it in publications including Asian Art News, World Sculpture News and The Nation for nearly a decade now. “Since the English-language book ‘Modern Art in Thailand’ by Dr Apinan Poshyananda came out in 1992, there’s been no single book focusing on the big picture of contemporary Thai art,” he says. “I thought, ‘Why don’t I do one?’ ”
Art lovers in search of a comprehensive overview will be glad he did. Pettifor’s 132-page coffee-table book is a feast of exceptional images and analysis that profiles 23 selected local artists. “It comes with a tang of post-bubble economic taste as contemporary Thai artists have overcome a period of stagnation and lull”, Prof Apinan Poshyananda, director general of the Culture Ministry’s Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, writes in the foreword.
“By penetrating behind the ‘Thai smile’ facade, he gives the readers a glimpse of how Thai art infrastructure operates and ways in which artists survive the local art scenes or leapfrog to international stardom.” Pettifor, a trained artist, generally bypasses academic theory in favour of the practical and the visual, using playful words to help readers visualise conceptual art (beyond the numerous colour illustrations) and the artists themselves. The analysis he offers, though, is carefully based on political, cultural economical and sociological changes in Thai society. There’s plenty here for the novice as well as the people within the scene.
Among those profiled are both the established artists you might spot in foreign magazines and the emerging talents in a variety of disciplines. In the former category are Navin Rawanchaikul, whose conceptual art focuses on the relation between art and life, installation master Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, the socially-minded photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom, gender-issue painter Pinaree Sanpitak, Vasan Sitthiket, whose paintings deal with social issues, social-oriented artist Kamin Lertchaiprasert and Sutee Kunavichayanont, who concocts politically satirical installations.
Theirs are familiar faces at the international festivals like the Sydney and Venice Biennales, but “Flavours” also covers the freshness of newcomers like performance artist Montri Toemsombat and painter Thaweesak Srithongdee. You’ll find abstract painter Thaiwijit Puengkasemsomboon, portraitist Sakwut Wisesmanee and figurative painter Kritsana Chaikitwattana, all of whose works are popular among collectors. But absent from Pettifor’s book are some hot artists like Rirkrit Tiravanija and Surasi Kusolwong, who he describes as “global” artists.
He’s managed to find four female artists in a male-dominated community: Araya, Pinaree, Surojana Sethabutr and Nitaya Ueareeworakul. “It’s difficult to find female artists who continue to work professionally, since many of them quit after get married,” Pettifor says. Having been a student of Thai contemporary art for so long, Pettifor is gratified to see its progress both domestically and internationally, and doubly so to witness the government’s backing of a major arts centre, a project long advocated by Prof Apinan.
“Individually, artists like Pinnaree and Sutee have progressed quickly their work, in terms of both the broadening medium and the conceptual level,” Pettifor says. “At the same time, Navin, who works mostly abroad, and Kamin are now initiating the idea of bringing art back to the community in northern cities like Chiang Mai and Lumphun. “I predict that when the new art centres opens within five years, which is Dr Apinan’s plan, the scene will be even more exciting.”
2. Gavroche no. 116, Bangkok, Fev 2004
by François Bauvois
Le Festin Artistique
Steven Pettifor nous offre un livre sur l'art contemporain en Thaïlande, «Flavours» (saveurs en français), une invitation terriblement alléchante à découvrir la scène artistique locale. Cet ouvrage commence avec une vue approfondie des développements récents, mettant l'accent en particulier sur les publications, les tendances et les événements qui ont joué un rôle dans l'influence de l'art d'aujourd'hui.
L'artiste-écrivain Steven Pettifor, qui a étudié les beaux-arts à la Wimbledon School of Art et à la John Moores University (où il fut diplômé d'un BFA en 1990), vit à Bangkok depuis 1992 et s'est penché sur l'une des scènes artistiques les plus dynamiques de la région, plongeant dans l'univers fascinant de 23 artistes.
Vous aurez, sans aucun doute, reconnu le désormais célèbre « pink man » de Manit Sriwanichpoom, promenant son caddie entre les gratte-ciel de Silom, et qui nous invite à découvrir ce qui se cache derrière son portrait. Au fil des pages, on y retrouve entre autres l'enfant terrible du pays, Vasan Sitthiket, dont certaines oeuvres furent censurées et confisquées dans les galeries et qui reste l'un des artistes les plus virulents. A ses côtés, Manit Sriwanichpoom et Sutee Kunavichayanont dénoncent conceptuellement le consumérisme et la modernisation. De jeunes artistes comme Santi Thongsuk et Kritsana Chaikitwattana essaient eux aussi de comprendre les conséquences sociales des remous économiques. D'autres s'entourent de spiritualité tels Kamin Lertchaiprasert (on lui doit l'oeuvre « If you saw Dharma you'd see me », un Bouddha composé de milliers de billets de 100 Bahts périmés d'une valeur de 10 millions et qui a fait beaucoup de bruit)... ou de fil de fer barbelé comme Montri Toemsombat dans des tenues qui ne laissent personne indifférent (en plants de riz, en soie avec les vers). Sans oublier les installations de Navin Rawanchaikul et les peintures de corps tatoués au style pop érotique de Thaweesak Srithongdee.
Un portrait artistique de la Thaïlande dressé dans ce magnifique ouvrage, destiné autant aux néophytes qu'aux connaisseurs par son approche simple, claire et agrémentée par plus de 80 illustrations couleurs... pour satisfaire l'appétit de tous les amoureux de l'art.
3. Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong, 27th February, 2004
by Jennifer Gampell
A Fresh Look at Thai Art
BANGKOK - "I don't think most people in Thailand give [contemporary art] much importance. Thais don't have critical minds," blasts Kraisak Choonhavan, the outspoken chairman of the Thai Senate's Foreign Relations Committee - and a tireless crusader for the contemporary arts. "They have a hard time understanding or appreciating artists who criticize the way the world is." True enough, in Thailand's English-language bookstores, the word "contemporary" rarely appears in titles except as it relates to style or design. instead, these bookstores devote large sections to colorful volumes on such uncontroversial topics as traditional Thai houses and handicrafts, Buddha images, Siamese history, waterways and tropical flora. Designed primarily for the tourist market, these lavishly photographed tomes toe the official line on what constitutes Thai culture.
Steven Pettifor's Flavours: Thai Contemporary Art (Thavibu Gallery, 130 pages, $35) stands out from among all this image-conscious vapidity. The cover of the new English-language review of Thai art features work by internationally renowned photographer/activist Manit Sriwanichpoom. Towering higher than the skyscrapers lining an impossibly pristine Bangkok street, a fuchsia-suited Thai pushes an empty shopping cart. Ever since the Thai Baht crash of 1997, the outspoken artist has superimposed his iconic "Pink Man" on a variety of pseudo-tourist photographs to personify Thailand as a tasteless robot enslaved by blind consumerism.
Now out of print, Apinan Poshyananda's earlier book Modern Art in Thailand appeared in 1992. The comprehensive text - taken from the author's doctoral thesis - surveyed Thai art from the late 19th century until 1991. During this period, Western-style techniques and concepts were introduced into Thailand, but "art" as promulgated by Silpakorn University - Bangkok's oldest arts institution - remained focused on the beautiful and the uncontroversial. In similar fashion, the cover of Dr. Apinan's book is a detail from a neo-traditional Buddhist mural painting. After curating many international exhibitions of Thai art, Dr. Apinan now directs the Contemporary Arts Department in the government's new Ministry of Culture - where just about everyone else regards contemporary art with disdain. Flavours author Steven Pettifor picks up where Dr. Apinan leaves off.
The English-trained artist-turned- journalist has lived in Bangkok since 1992 and writes regularly on the Thai art scene for local and international publications. He prefaces the 130-page book by saying he doesn't intend to replicate his predecessor's level of detail, but instead wants to provide a "taste" of Thailand's growing contemporary visual arts scene from a both local and international perspective. "I don't like constantly comparing to the West," he cautions. "You see international critics coming here and trying to define Thai art by their benchmarks," he explains. "I've immersed myself in the culture and can evaluate it with some degree of insider's knowledge."
Mr. Pettifor writes in an accessible magazine style, using refreshingly jargon free prose, which unfortunately needs more editing in places. In the brisk 20-page introduction "Dishing Up Thai Art for a Global Appetite" he contextualize the Thai art world that produced the 23 artists profiled in the second part of the book.
Mr. Pettifor encapsulates many issues relevant to-the contemporary art scene: the profound effects globalization; the 1997 bursting of Thailand's economic bubble; the increasing popularity of Thai artists abroad and their continuing struggle for public and governmental support back home, gender bias in art, and the emergence of Chiang Mai as an alternative to Bangkok's art hegemony.
The 19 male and four female artists profiled work in a range of contemporary genres: textile, performance, installation, ceramics, painting and sculpture. Their names may be familiar to international curators and art aficionados, but probably are not to the book's target audience of newcomers to the Thai art scene. In his preface, Mr. Pettifor questions a few of the choices but acknowledges that he shared the selection process with Bangkok-based Thavibu Gallery. He tactfully neglects to mention that Thavibu also represents several of the profiled artists, or that the printer nixed one of the 80-plus photos which showed performance artist Michael Shaowanasai dressed in monk's robes.
In his foreword to Flavours, Dr. Apinan praises Mr. Pettifor for giving "creditable favour to Thai artists" and regrets "there are not more Pettifors to push contemporary Thai heritage to the echelon it deserves." Why indeed did so much time elapse between their two books? It may have to do with the fact that Thai artists battle against a powerful and conservative art infrastructure that keeps them fragmented and fosters petty bickering among the various factions. "It's sooo hard to do anything in the Thai art world," deplores renegade Thai writer and social activist/critic Ing K. "You really stick your neck out. I admire Steve's guts. If a Thai person criticizes anything, they tell us `go live somewhere else'."
Another roadblock is funding. Those glossy volumes extolling every tourist's fantasy of Thailand sell lots of copies. Whether in English or Thai, books on Thai art just don't sell. "Flavours" was on the drawing board for several years but would never have happened without the financial support of Liam Ayudhkij, an Irish-Thai businessman, philanthropist and art collector.
As he looks toward the future, Mr. Pettifor is encouraged that many internationally successful Thai artists who live abroad are returning home to hold workshops and classes for a new generation of students. With the rise of other universities in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, he also sees a loosening of Silpakorn's stranglehold on art education.
Among his various ideas for making Bangkok a hub for fashion; design and information technology, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also tabled a plan to make it a regional center for contemporary art. The new culture ministry, however, seems more interested in upholding traditional notions of culture than contemporary ones. It even tried to stop Thai women from wearing tank tops with spaghetti straps during last year's Songkran festival. For now, contemporary art in Thailand still rows against the current.
4. Bangkok Post, Bangkok, 6 March, 2004
by Cheng Zu
Artistic Appetiser
For the past eight years, independent art writer Steven Pettifor has worked on
assignments for various local and regional publications on Thai contemporary
art. He has also stimulated debate on the authority and truth of art in this
country. Committed as he is, it is difficult to ignore his wandering
presence _ a sturdy figure with short cropped blonde hair _ at most of the art
openings and exhibitions this city has produced the past few years. Regarded as
the definitive art writer now by the art community and his colleagues, Pettifor
is no passive recorder. He not only talks to the exhibiting artists, but also to
the crowd to exchange views and dialogue.
To be sure, as a foreign resident, the writer has struggled through initial
scepticism over his media role. "I remembered it was very difficult as a farang,"
Pettifor recalls. "Trying to get my foot in the door, whether with individuals,
galleries or institutions. Now I find I'm welcomed, and that's because I'm
always out there keeping abreast of not just the art, but the community as
well." The fascination with the free, unbridled excesses of the
imagination contemporary art provides, and the dream above all else, has
continued to inform his enthusiasm throughout his writings. It is timely that he
has now decided to compile and offer his testaments on Thai art in a
long-awaited book.
Flavours is a hardcover compendium, with 130 pages of images and text. The main
content of the book is 23 profiles of current luminaries of the Thai art world.
They range from the well-established, such as Vasan Sitthiket, Pinaree Sanpitak
and Panya Vijinthanasarn, to rising names like Montri Toemsombat, Thaweesak
Srithongdee and Jakkai Siributr. There's also a detailed overview of his main
subjects in the opening chapter.
"I realised how I have
matured and feel that the development of contemporary art here deserves to be
documented in proper print," Pettifor points out. "Not just for local readers;
there wasn't much out there internationally [either]. An irony, considering the
influx of Thai artists entering the international art scene right now."
Preparation for the book started in late 2002 and was initiated from a
discussion with Thavibu Gallery's owner Jorn Middelborg, who also helped to pull
in funding support from long-time patron of the arts, collector and
philanthropist Liam Ayudhkij. Taking liberty with Thailand's worldwide
reputation for exceptional cuisine and spices, Pettifor titled his book Flavours
to serve up "a taste" of Thailand's burgeoning contemporary visual arts.
The book is intended to offer a general scope of artistic practices that shapes
the creative parameters. "The choice of artists was primarily based around
disciplines," Pettifor explains. "I try to present a balance of disciplines. We
get artists who work with ceramics, textiles and even performance art. I try to
encapsulate the different media of today bearing in mind that the book still has
to be visually stimulating." From the provocative ironies in photo-artist
Manit Sriwanichpoom's works to the site-specific aspirations by Sakarin Krue-on,
Pettifor's investigative poignancy and documentary intimacy came through in the
book. Images and text are juxtaposed, evoking an almost personal closeness with
the subject in his life.
Educated and trained as an artist in England at Liverpool University, the
36-year-old moved to Bangkok 12 years ago after becoming disillusioned over the
lack of creative input that contemporary art in London seemed to provide.
"I was not interested in the London art scene at all. In fact, I wasn't doing or
thinking about art even after moving here initially," Steven recalls. "Having
said that, I was still very intrigued with my new environment, and Bangkok has
certainly renewed my vigour for art through observing the current luminaries of
the Thai art world." Indeed, one of the first exhibitions he checked out
was by Chatchai Puipia, one of the artists featured in the book. "I was
here when the bubble economy in the mid-'90s prompted many galleries to set in
motion what I call 'the artistic boom'."
With the help of his wife, who was then working for The Nation newspaper, Steven
got his first break into art writing in 1997. Soon after, he began to write
regularly for other publications such as Metro magazine and Art & Asia Pacific
and eventually, Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. He still holds a
current position as Thailand Contributing Editor for the latter two
publications. Keeping his writing language as accessible as possible, one
of Pettifor's objectives for this book project is to attract a broader range of
readership. "A lot of artists make art for the community, about the general
public. With so little being published about art already, there also has to be
an outlet for the public to attain easy accessibility when reading about art."
Referring to the insular nature that contemporary art has been accused of,
Pettifor adds: "Too much art writing is written in a very high brow manner. It's
written very specifically for the target market. I am fed up reading art
criticism that almost deliberately tries to confound its readers, to validate
the writer's own position." Pettifor states in the book's preface: "I
think it's important to give visual art broader relevance, to elaborate how it
is bourne out of, and puts into context, events and issues that surround our
daily existence. Those not familiar with Thailand may only have a very
superficial understanding of what motivates artists here, and therefore, I try
and highlight any determining factors."
So, what is it about Thai contemporary art that so intrigues Pettifor in the
first place? "What I like about Thai art, personally, is the way the
artists manage to stamp their own individual styles on their work, regardless of
the media they employ. And the subtleties carried out by the artists on issues
they wish to address in their works." Pettifor says. "Take for example,
Sutee Kunvichayanont with his 'classroom' installation. Through re-appropriating
certain historical events, the artist attempts to expose the shortcomings of
what Thai historical writings are all about."
So far, the response from the featured artists and art community at large has
been positive, judging from the turnout at the book's official launch two months
ago at the late ex-prime minister MR Kukrit Pramoj's residence. Pettifor
has inserted himself into almost all aspects of cultural dimensions in visual
arts in Thailand. "I would like to think that I have a good understanding of the
Thai art scene. However, after 12 years here, I am still no expert on the subtle
and deep-rooted intricacies of Thai society and cultural beliefs. But it's the
constant learning that holds my interest and keeps me motivated."
What does the future hold for this writer? "If there was a second book, I like
to increase the number of artists by five or six. Also I do want explore a far
more thematic approach than the first. Perhaps a fictional novel."
5. Asian Art News, Hong Kong, Vol 14 No 5, 2004
by Jonathan Thomson
Flavours: Thai Contemporary Art
Visitors to Thailand have long been seduced by the people, their culture, and cuisine. The renowned chef David Thompson is no exception. In his book Thai Food he notes that Thai cooking is the opposite of Western cuisine, where two or three flavors are blended in order to meld into the required taste. In contrast, he observes that Thai food creates a balance of flavors within each dish through its components that can result in a complexity which can be dazzling. In a similar way it is a fascination with the process of cultural syncretism and the balance of styles that make up the complexity of Thai art that motivates artist and writer Steven Pettifor.
His book Flavours: Thai Contemporary Art extends the culinary metaphor as it offers the reader a taste of the contemporary Thai art scene. It does not claim to be a comprehensive survey of contemporary Thai art or an in-depth examination of the many diverse factors and influences that have had a bearing on its development. It instead offers a brief overview of some of the cultural, social, economic, and political issues that have impacted Thai life over the past few decades and a series of twenty-three personal snapshots of the work of a group of artists that the author has encountered during his tenyear residency in Bangkok.
The potted history of the past few decades, titled Dishing Up Thai Art for a Global Appetite, touches on many of the issues and concerns that have occupied the Thai people since the popular uprisings against the military government in the 1970s. However, as a historical summary, it is rather superficial and offers more emotive value judgments than close analysis. The author is much more at home with his individual artist profiles. He combines biographical information with close readings of individual artworks. He provides clear descriptions of the works' historical and contemporary context and quotes extensively from the artists themselves. Each profile consists of two pages of text with a small illustration of the artist's work plus two full-page photographs of two other works.
The selection of artist profiles is nicely balanced yet one that the author acknowledges was not his alone. His partners in the publication, and joint copyright holders, the gallery owner Jorn Middelborg and the philanthropist Liam Ayudhkij, may also have had some input. With one exception, the painter Niti Wattuya, who at 60 is by far the oldest in the group, the selection is of artists who are in their late-20 to mid-40s. Each has been chosen in the expectation that they will continue to have "currency" and continue practicing for years to come. This seems a very reasonable expectation as all of the artists selected are producing very impressive work.
The selection comprises eleven painters, six installation artists, two sculptors, and one in each of the areas of photography, ceramics, textiles, and costume. Even so, it feels like quite a small sample given that Thailand has more universities with fine art faculties producing well- trained graduates than most other countries in the region. The profiles which are offered are a very satisfying introduction to contemporary Thai art but still leave the reader hungry for more.