I Don't Understand Why People Are Afraid Of New Ideas.

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This is the statement (of John Cage) with which the artist Khun Angkrit Ajchariyasophon underlines the concept of his gallery.

Established last year, ANGKRITGALLERY aims to provide an innovative forum for contemporary art, presenting also work of unknown young artists or artists that work in a way that's not in line with generally accepted ideas about art.

Many artists that show their work at this gallery are unknown, not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world.

ANGKRITGALLERY wants to support young artists at the beginning of their careers.

The gallery is located in Nanglae, not far from Din Daeng Pottery of Khun Somluk Pantiboon and Ban Damm of Khun Tawann Duchanee.

It's very easy to find, it is about 15 kilometer north of town:

You take the superhighway to the north, pass Ban Du, pass Rajabhat University and then, two kilometers further at the second U-turn after the Rajabhat, with the distribution center of PepsiCola at your left, you take the u-turn and after 35 meters you are in front of a big soup shop (mo sap aroi!) that also houses a modern coffeeshop herebookafe that sells books, magazines and a lot of other things, but also has a reading corner, WIFI, etc etc.

The ANGKRITGALLERY is located on the first and second floor of this building, entrance trough herebookafe

This Thursday, July 9 at 7 pm the exhibition of Acharn Sayarm Pueng-udom will be opened festively in the presence of not only the artist but also of his young art students participating with their work as well.

Everybody is welcome!

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[Limbo]

Sayarm Pueng-udom, the artist

The art of Sayarm Pueng-udom is as universal as art by definition is, but conceptually it shows clearly typical Thai aspects.

There is for instance this remarkable acceptance of nature, of things being the way they are, that reflects itself in the works of Sayarm.

How easy would it be to use only natural material that by co-incidence shaped itself already into the kind of perfection we think to need; perfection indirectly based on our patterns of wishful thinking about ourselves and the world around us. That’s what we generally see infurniture styled to float commercially on the waves of the popular ‘natural trend’.

It is nature that is tamed to serve us, stripped of its own identity.

Khun Sayarm on the other hand respectfully preserves the identity of his material.

Sayarm embraces the perfection of nature in its original form. Therefore his work playfully exposes our less perfect mind, that always

seems to be willing to control this very same nature as illustrated centuries ago in the classicistic gardens of the Palace of Versailles

and nowadays by evergreen bushes cut into the shapes of animals and those in their turn, with the poodles first of course, into the

most remarkable, almost imaginary, creatures thinkable.

No, the work of Sayarm incorporates nature as it is, thus delicately paying honor to it. His artworks seem therefore to live an own life, independent but inviting. We can use his respectful art or only look at it. Whatever we choose to do, it will be in humble harmony with the natural integrity of the material of the works and the artistic concepts of its creator.

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Sayarm Pueng-udom, the art teacher

About thirty years ago Khun Sayarm was one of those young volunteers that went to live in the mountains to teach the peoples of ethnic minorities Thai language and the basic principles of Thai culture and society: the ‘kru doi’, the greatly respected mountain teachers. It was the beginning of a teaching career that would result in founding Smoodtai Art School in Bangkok. Nowadays he teaches art, his passion, to northern Thai children again.

The art teacher Khun Sayarm bases his teaching and his art on the same artistic concept: he approaches his students with the same respect he shows for the characteristics of the materials he uses for his art. He takes their abilities, their feelings and their perception as starting point for his educational interaction with them. He believes in them as young artists, reflecting the childlike simplicity of the genuine naïve artist, so often resulting in pleasant and refreshing visions.

Not only the result counts for him but also the process itself. When the students work, Khun Sayarm often plays guitar to enrich the creative atmosphere with an acoustic component. Sometimes, next to watercolor and acrylic paint, the students use eatable ingredients, enabling them to add taste to the happiness in making art, a state of mind in which learning and creating are main components. They see, hear, feel and taste. They are fully engaged, with body and soul. All 'gates of perception' open themselves to them.

Participants in the exhibition are Shan and Akha from Maesai, children from the village Ban Pa Ngiew and his students from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, among which many of Wiksanuson, the new Montessori school.

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It is tonight!

SAYARM PUENG UDOM

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cracked Blossom 2 Extreme

on Thursday, 9 July 2009 at 07:00 pm.

The Angkritgallery is open daily 07:00 am – 03.00 pm.

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There was avery good atmosphere at the opening of Acharn Sayarm's exhibition.

Many prominent artists of Chiang Rai honored their colleague with their presence.

Even Khun Miti, the President of Chiang Rai United FC had taken time to visit the vernissage.

Furthermore of course the professors of the art faculty of the Rajabhat University, Acharn Kanti

and Acharn Suparat and a lot of other prominent people of the world of art and culture in Chiang Rai whose identity

I can't reveal for privacy reasons.

Also the Yunnanese monks, who stay for three months at the new temple of Pa Auo Romyen in Nanglae,

came together with famous and internationally renowned (his last exhibition was in Oslo, Norway) potter

Khun Somluk Pantiboon who is not only their neighbour at Din Daeng but also the person who took the

initiative for the founding of this temple three years ago.

Everybody was happy, especially the children who happily painted undisturbed by all the noise and

movement around them.

I guess there were about sixty people and, yes, among them six foreigners.

This is the second time that the foreigners population is over represented at a cultural event.

Last week it was a foreigner who exhibited his work at 9 Art Gallery and more than 20 % of the attendants were foreigner as well.

This time at Angkritgallery it was a Thai artist and the foreigners still made up for 10 % of the people present.

Not bad: to get 10 % coming Saturday at the football match we would need about 150 foreigners to come 555!

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Pictures of the opening:

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A Home Coming Concert

Monday, 10 August 2009, three talented students from the College of Music of the Mahidol University

will at the occasion of the Celebration of Mother's Day, give a concert in Chiang Rai.

On the program are songs and arias of Haendel, Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Strauss,

and violin concertos of Bruch, Saint-Saens and Brahms.

The concert takes place at the Performing Art Hall of the Department of Music Program on the campus of

the Chiangrai Rajabhat University.

The concert will be given twice: from 1.00 to 2.30 pm and from 4.00 to 5.30 pm.

The entrance is free.

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The Soprano Fueanglada Prawang :

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New exhibition on view at ANGKRITGALLERY:

....................................... Life is elsewhere

This is the first solo exhibition of Patricka Chulamokha, a young promising photographer, but above all a fascinating person.

"... individuals of this kind never feel well integrated into the world in which they find themselves; hence their love of paradox and

of everything that creates disorder. They feel less out of place in a somewhat revolutionary climate of ideas than in a more settled

environment and philosophy..."

... thus she enlights us about her self-concept by quoting Michel Foucault ('Abnormal'. Lectures at the College de France, 1974).

Patricka Chulamokha (1984, Bangkok) is a professional social worker, not a professional photographer,

nor a professional painter, but tends to fall in love with sexy old german cameras, smell of oil paints, and felines.

She is committed to the ambitious task of making the world a slightly more beautiful place.

She did her bachelors Social Work at Thammasat University and her masters Human Rights and Social

Development at Mahidol University. She works as a social worker for World Vision Thailand in Bangkok.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"For me the most interesting part in a relationship is the phrase right before the first kiss.

There is a rush of feelings, hope, lust, longing, and possession.

Butterflies, and all sorts of creatures sway in the stomach. Everything seems ambiguous.

During that time your mind are distracted by the emotions. Your eyes strays.

With such the images created of the reality are of blurred quality, like out of focus pictures.

These images are often cloudy and vague. Charming, in a misleading way.

It is like when one with bad eye sight sees without glasses. Images loose its shape, and the

edges are blended into rounded objects.

These blended and blurred objects leaves space for other out of worldly imaginations.

Street lights transform into large bright fireworks, and cobra snakes mistaken for the wiggling

tails of cute black kittens.

Open for reinterpretations. So I seek, for life, elsewhere".

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricka Chulamokha

. . . . . . . . . . . the exhibition will be on view until september 30

Channeled by Limbo

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Date: Tonight, Saturday October 10,

Time: at 7 pm,

Location: Phowadol Resort and Spa (yes, the place with the absolutely best buffet in town, every day 11 am to 2 pm)

. . . . . . . . at Rimkok, about one kilometer from the hotel with the same name.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chiangrai Youth Orchestra

. . . . . . . . . . presents a free concert with works of Vivaldi and Mozart

During the almost six years that the orchestre now exists Acharn Paramet has booked great progress with his young Chiang Rai violinists.

For some of them he even created the opportunity to move on to renowned orchesters in Bangkok and Chiangmai.

From the other side has his orchester been feeded with talents from the Hilltribe Violin Orchestre of Maechan, a project of the Chao Phya

Abhaj Raja Foundation that among others also is the thriving force behind the all-hilltribe Chiang Rai Hills Football Club.

The ambience is usually very pleasant at the performances of the orchestra and the players and their parents

appreciate very much if you would share their enjoyment and pride!

Welcome!

Limbo

. . . . . . . . . . . . Antonio Vivaldi 1678 - 1741 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756 - 1791 :

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Dear friends,

As you might have noticed, aside of informing you about what happens at the spiritually innovating ANGKRITGALLERY this thread is also meant to give attention to for Chiang Rai unique happenings concerning music.

Coming Tuesday, the tenth of November at 19:00 at the Legend a novelty will be presented.

It will be the first time that a Big Band plays in Chiang Rai and it is a classic one, that originated from the famous Dutch Swing College Band.:

The Big Biggles Band from Amsterdam!

Big Bands with 20 persons performing are very rare today and certainly in this part of the world. You will hear popular tunes from the great Swing Era of Glen Miller, Count Basy and Tommy Dorsey. For more than 20 years the Biggles Big Band has performed weekly at the Casablanca Café in the heart of Amsterdam.

The happening is not free this time as it comes with the good old BBQ buffet where the Legend is famous for (590 Baht a person). The Legend is situated at a splendid location on the Mae Kok riverside on Koh Loy.

For those among you who are new in Chiang Rai: Koh Loy is the island north of the old Singaklaj Road, the road with the big trees that connects the Overbrook Hospital with Hi Yek. The island is situated between the oldest course of the Mae Kok, only identifiable by the bridges outside the rainy season, and the present one, almost next to the sportscomplex. You can't miss it as signs show you the way.

Enjoy!

Limbo

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Sayarm Pueng-udom, the artist

The art of Sayarm Pueng-udom is as universal as art by definition is, but conceptually it shows typical Thai aspects.

There is for instance this remarkable acceptance of nature, of things being the way they are, that reflects itself in the works of Sayarm.

How easy would it be to use only natural material that by co-incidence shaped itself already into the kind of perfection we think to need; perfection indirectly based on our patterns of wishful thinking about ourselves and the world around us. That’s what we generally see infurniture styled to float commercially on the waves of the popular ‘natural trend’.

It is nature that is tamed to serve us, stripped of its own identity.

Khun Sayarm on the other hand respectfully preserves the identity of his material.

Sayarm embraces the perfection of nature in its original form. Therefore his work playfully exposes our less perfect mind, that always

seems to be willing to control this very same nature as illustrated centuries ago in the classicistic gardens of the Palace of Versailles

and nowadays by evergreen bushes cut into the shapes of animals and those in their turn, with the poodles first of course, into the

most remarkable, almost imaginary, creatures thinkable.

No, the work of Sayarm incorporates nature as it is, thus delicately paying honor to it. His artworks seem therefore to live an own life, independent but inviting. We can use his respectful art or only look at it. Whatever we choose to do, it will be in humble harmony with the natural integrity of the material of the works and the artistic concepts of its creator.

Limbo

A lot of the furniture/art-work of Khun Sayarm but also the results of his work as an art-teacher have been and still are on show in Angkritgallery and Bookafe. Since yesterday he opened a shop as well. In the long run he will also invite other artists that use bamboo as starting point for their work. If you know people that might be interested, please ask them to contact Khun Sayarm.

Going north on the Superhighway the shop is at the left, about 100 meters after the Esso gasoline station (3 kms out of town).

On the pictures:

The new shop.

The artists Khun Somluk Pantiboon (pottery Din Daeng), Khun Sayarm Pueng Udom and Khun Angkrit Ajchariyasophon.

Two visiting ladies at the bamboo desk of Khun Yai.

One lady on the swing.

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This Saturday, November 28 at 6 pm it's the opening of the exhibition

titled . . . "Salad is not a thing"

showing art works of . . Thasnai Sethaseree

that might set the tune for the rest of your evening

The exhibition will be shown until December 22 in . ANGKRITGALLERY/BOOKAFE

(see earlier postings for the exact location)

"Salade de fruits" of Bourvil might not really cover the load, but it's good to brush up your French if you so wish ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1skWzDHqIk

More information follows.

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Acharn Thasnai Sethaseree, professor at the Art Faculty of the University of Chiang Mai besides being the artist that presents to us his latest work in the exhibition at ANGKRITGALLERY/BOOKAFE, is one of Thailands internationally oriented artists.

This not only manifests itself within the theme of this exhibition, but also in his background and earlier activities.

Acharn Thasnai studied art among others at the University of Chicago and was in 2003 invited by the artistic director and main curator of the 50th Venice Biennial, Francesco Bonami to show his work at that occasion to an international public.

Being culturally Thai but living and studying in the United States confronted him with the necessity to broaden his perspectives and he did so in a very conscious way, understanding that being able to 'endure' a new environment having another cultural background enriches if one manages to create the necessary symbiosis in terms of mindset.

It was with great pleasure that he joined the 'Rambutan Society', a group of like-minded Asians in the United States.

The work of Acharn Thasnai is therefore conceptually not without socio-anthropological components.

The international and inter-cultural orientation is worded in the statement with which he presents to us the 'rationale' behind the work that is at show now in Nanglae:

“Salad” does not come out of one specific culture, but was a core food item dating back to ancient times. The contents of the salad would be dependent on what was available, seasonality, and trade routes of the day. What is all mixed together in a bowl of salad, a mixture of vegetable, fruits and some meats, signifies a concept of the integration of many different things and cultures.

“Salad” in Thai pronunciation has a couple of different phonemic meaning , 1) สะ-หลัด / salad {salad v.}; to shake off, throw off, fling, toss away, 2) โจรสลัด /jone-salad {pirate, buccaneer, bandit n.} To jumble “salad” in both English and Thai phoneme in one bowl without uniting their segmental units, it should imply ideas of flexibility, possibility, contingency, mixture, flux and flow, diversity, fusion, separation, juxtaposition, absurdity, absorbing, refusing, corrupting, outrage, illegal copying, scattering, struggling, revenge, freedom, crime, negation etc.

Moreover, it happens that this bowl of mixed languages’ phoneme reveals also ideas of political structure and its power relations embedded deeply in the opposite site – stiffness, impossibility, certainty, singularity, stillness, uniformity, disassociation, validity, reason, distracting, accepting, happiness, trustworthy, originality, monopoly, surrendering, sympathy, suppression, good deed, institution, etc.

If “salad” making can be considered as a culture of practices in some sort, these practices do not merge together into a single homogeneous culture. Rather, it connotes multiple juxtaposed layers of articles, and somehow of an idea of cultural pluralism. Within this space of practices, the physical entity of power over resources control becomes loose, and it allows the flow of heterogeneous sources of diversity of experiences in a new environment; as yet it consents to conflicts politically. Then choices of anything can be conceived of endless alternative. In this sense, “salad” is not a thing, but a simple survival tactic, serving cold people who are driven away from the center of power.

When objective properties of what so ever we call “a thing” do not really exist, it has no sense for a question to be asked about the “what” – it is better to seek for the “why” and “how”……of course you can go on asking what this show is all about.

The exhibition of the work of Acharn Thasnai is the 7th in a series of 12 that set the tone for this for Chiang Rai very remarkable gallery.

It can be visited every day untill December 22 from 8 am to 3 pm.

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Some pictures of the exhibition and of the artist himself in the company of a former Dutch museum curator:

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Romance in the air?

I think it was in September this year that Sek Loso gave a concert in the Par Club in Chiang Rai.

Earlier he was here in December 2007 (opposite the Rimkok Hotel?).

Internationally Sek is doing better than Ed Carabao, I think that he gave more concerts in Europe than in Thailand

during the last ten years (and some very remarkable performances in the United States, like the one in New York at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, the famous Rak Opera 555!).

When his father, a poor farmer from Korat, died in 2005 he dedicated to him a song in English, of its recording only 100 copies were made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aruXGZziv94...feature=related

Alright, Sek didn't perform yet in ANGKRITGALLERY/BOOKAFE, so where is it all about, you might wonder.

Is it, that it is interesting to finally see some pictures of Sek without sunglasses?

Or might it be so that I want to take the opportunity to present to you some pictures of a lady, 'after-concert' in Bern Switserland recently, that most of the older expats and a lot of Chiang Rai visitors during the eighties will recognize immediatly?

The name starts with a 'G' 555!

Have a nice weekend!

Limbo

Edited December 5, 2009 by Limbo

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Even The Nation, the English language daily newspaper associated with the Thaivisa forum, discovered ANGKRITGALLERY/BOOKAFE in Chiang Rai. It is probably Angkrit's modesty, that made the journalist concentrate on just a few details. The article is clearly not meant to picture Angkrit as the artist he is. But it is a good development that a Bangkok based newspaper starts to give attention to local initiatives. Even in art Thailand is not only Bangkok and the province Chiang Rai is known for its active art life.

Limbo

EDITOR'S PICK:

Art and a bowl of soup, please

By Khetsirin Pholdhamapalit

The Nation on Sunday

Published on December 6, 2009

Artists who aren't known but ought to be are welcome at Chiang Rai's Angkrit Gallery. Just ignore the black cat jumping over the coffin

In terms of art, Chiang Rai could be Heaven or it could be hel_l. You've got both Chalermchai Kositpipat's Wat Rong Khun, "the White Temple", and Thawan Duchanee's Black House.

But to another local artist, Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, things aren't so black and white.

His humble Angkrit Gallery in Nanglae district, not quite a year old, welcomes artists still struggling to be recognised, so there's a measure of cold reality to cool the creative heat.

The world of Angrit, 33, comprises seven shophouses, including the third branch of Saharos, a restaurant popular for its delicious tom lued moo, a Chinese-style soup made with hog's entrails and curdled blood.

You can watch Angkrit making the soup from a recipe he inherited from his mother, who opened the original branch the year he was born.

Then follow Angkrit next door for a cup of coffee at his bookstore-caf้ Herebookafe - the name references the Chinese word for older brother, hia. That's what the staff call Angkrit.

Postcards and T-shirts designed by local artists are also on sale in the bookshop, which has as its symbol a barn owl, contrary to the common belief that the bird brings bad luck.

"I have to earn a living and can't do it only with art, so running the family food business helps," Angkrit says, adding that the daily income of Bt2,000 to Bt4,000 is "enough".

Out front are several fibreglass sculpted self-portraits in elaborate traditional costumes greeting passers-by with a wai - just like at tourist attractions. They were part of his 2006 series "Otop from Chiang Rai". Angkrit felt the government's One Tambon One Product money-spinning scheme undermined the value of local products and skills.

The Angkrit Gallery is on the second floor of the food shop, 96 square metres where the owl's been chased off by a black cat leaping across a coffin.

The gallery has its seventh show on display until December 22, a site-specific installation by Thasnai Sethaseree titled "Salad Is Not a Thing". It plays with the whimsical saying that life is like a bowl of salad.

"I always chat with the customers eating downstairs and invite them to come up and see the art," says Angkrit, who got his degree - in art, not cooking - at Chiang Mai University.

"They enjoy seeing works of art and hopefully come back again. The gallery gets about 40 visitors a month. Most of them are local, including my loyal tom lued moo customers." Aiming to foster the arts in the province, the gallery has an artist-in-residence programme called Open Museum Nanglae. Japan's Yoshitomo Nara and members of the art-architecture-design collective Graf Media GM have taken turns settling in for a month.

Angkrit says he was inspired to open the gallery by Uten Mahamid, who was his senior at Chiang Mai U and lives solely on art - with effort.

"He has no permanent residence. He spends his life as a gypsy, travelling around the country creating art that's never been shown in any galleries! He said no one would organise an exhibition for a little-known artist like him, and there are a lot of artists who live in the shadows even though their work is interesting".

"The second and third floors of these buildings were vacant, so I figured why not turn them into an art space and artists' residence?"

The gallery opened with an exhibition of paintings by - who else - Uten Mahamid, based on the beautiful nudibranch of the deep sea.

That was followed by shows by Sompote Ang, Mit Jai-in, Uthit Atimana and Sayarm Pueng-Udom.

Angkrit went through his own years of hassles finding public wall space, particularly in Bangkok, though he found his way into several group shows. In 2006 he had a little fun with his name, which means "English", and presented a remarkable project called "A Perfect English Gentleman" as part of the group show "Platform". He dressed in a tailored suit and a bowler hat and poured tea for gallery visitors.

Angkrit has an interesting sponsorship deal for his continuing thesis, the dauntingly titled "Development of an Art Business Model: A Case Study of a 12-year Painting Project". He signed contracts with 12 patrons that require him to produce a painting a year for each of them for 12 years.

They each end up with 12 100-by-100-centimetre paintings and he gets Bt120,000 a year - Bt10,000 from every sponsor.

"I'm experimenting with modern management and marketing strategies to develop the artist's potential," he explains.

The patrons include Numthong Tang of Numtong Gallery, May-T of Moderndog and Udom Taepanich.

"The only problem" after three years, he chuckles, "is that some of them are late with their payments."

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The ANGKRITGALLERY/BOOKAFE has gained fame as one of the few experimental galleries of northern Thailand and to some it

certainly will be a surprise to find an exhibition at this gallery that shows art works recognizable as 'paintings'.

With other words these frameble rectangular canvas surfaces with oilpaint attached to them, mostly by brushes, resulting in

something most of us have seen before: yes, 'paintings' thus, sometimes, rightfully or not, referred to as art!

Thirteen paintings are on show, more than enough and less than average. With other words: a nice conveniently arranged exhibition

of which the ingredients are presented in easily digestible chunks, even for those among us who delegate the decoration of their walls

to their loving spouses, often resulting in a gallery of royal portraits, larded with some 'beautiful things' bought at the night bazaar and

a calendar in each room (after many year the 'Singha' got decent, long live the 'Pirelli').

To my fellow barbaric 'farang' residents of Chiang Rai I would like to point out that I know very well that in the western world good art

has become a privilege for the 'happy few'. That might be the reason that many people in 'the west' decorate their walls with

photographs of their children, cats or dogs, reproductions of the famous gipsy woman, the little crying boy and more of this superbly

selling pictural nonsense.

Here in Chiang Rai (and probably elsewhere too) we see foreigners who drove for instance a little Fiat in Europe and change here

to one of these absolutely unnecessary big cars. Maybe they were living in a small two-bedroom appartment before they bought

here a house of more than five million Baht. They might have been living on the fifth floor on the backyard with a little cat living

in the kitchen (at least eating and shitting there) and here they suddenly have three Golden Retrievers and a German Shepherd.

But the decoration of their walls gives them away: 'nouveau riche' or four wheel driven Cheap Charly's 555!

Recently I opened a message thread in the Chiang Mai forum because I thought it was connected to art in some way.

It was a 'farang' asking for, as I found out, an artist who could make a painting after a photograph....

What must I say more?

Open up guys (lads? folks? gentlemen?) and realize that even you can afford to buy art in Thailand.

If you never did in your life, just let it be.

But if you ever thought about it, think about it again!

Limbo

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For Thai readers:

The Crying Boy is a mass-produced print of a painting by Italian painter Bruno Amadio, also known as Giovanni Bragolin.

It was widely distributed from the 1950s on. There are numerous alternate versions, all portraits of tearful young boys or girls.

A reproduction of it is hanging in about ten percent of European houses and tells us therefore a little bit about the cultural level

of people above 50 in Europe. The 'gypsy girl' is probably second choice. These two pictures are a good indication about the

level of art education in Europe 50 years ago. The younger generation hangs this kind of things in the toilet. For them they belong

to the category 'nostalgia' or 'what my parents liked'.

Most foreigners in Chiang Rai though are older than fifty (sic)!.

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at angkritgallery/herebookafe, saturday, february 6 at 6 pm

closing .. party ..of . . .Eyewitness

painting series by Sudsiri Pui-Ock

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Who is Sudsiri Pui-Ock?

Khun Sudsiri is a very prominent Thai visual artist and engaged as advisor by the University of Chiangmai and the

Naresuan University. The fact that she chooses to show her work at ANGKRITGALLERY is a good indication of

the position of this Chiang Rai gallery within the art scene of Thailand.

She gained an M.A. at the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts of the Silpakorn University in Bangkok and

a B.F.A. at the Department of Printmaking, Painting and Sculpture of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Chiang Mai University.

She took part in residency programs at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, Netherlands (the

same art academy where national artist Tawann Duchanee of the Black Village studied toward the end of the sixties).

Furthermore she participated in the ARCUS Project, Moriya, Ibaraki in Japan and worked at the The Jerusalem Center

for the Visual Arts in Israel.

Where could Sudsiri Pui-Ock's work be seen?

Khun Sudsiri has had many solo and group exhibitions in Thailand and abroad.

For instance in Italy: She was one of the Thai artists who represented Thailand at the Venice Biennale last year,

one of the most prestigious art manifestations worldwide.

Most of here exhibitions in Thailand took place in Bangkok and Chiangmai. Furthermore her work could be seen in

several renowned art centers and galleries in Japan, Vietnam, Israel, Netherlands, Germany and Korea.

How does Khun Sudsiri put her art into words?

About 'eyewitness' or the work in this exhibition :

"In life, we are always searching for something. It is the thing that we think it would make our life complete, free and

happy and then we do not have to striving any more. We never know where it is; when it will come; how to get there.

We are not even sure if it really exists. It seems like a painful fact"

"Along the (long) way of (the endless) searching we’ve witnessed, learnt, surprised, felt the pain and the joy.

May be when we finally reach the destination it might not be as precious as its path.

I am the witness of my own journey. Every moment of my journey, there always be something coming into contact

with me, my eyes, my feeling and my mind both consciously or unexpectedly.

The journey through times and places taught me to stop, watch and ponder with the moment of time"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ******

On behalf of gallerist Angkrit Ajcharyasophon: Welcome !

Don't forget that it a closing party, not the opening of the exhibition!

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The fumes of the closing party of the exhibition of Khun Sudsiri haven't lifted yet but neverteless

already tomorrow the opening of next show will be celebrated at ANGKRITGALLERY.

This time we have the pleasure to see the works of a conceptual artist again and nobody less then

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pisitakun Kuntalang

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. . . . . . . friday 12 february, 6 – 8 pm
. . . . . . lllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Promising young artist Pisitakun Kuntalang, more famous in Bangkok than in Chiang Rai and this

mainly for the 'mind-boggling' concepts that he lays down in his amazing installations, presents his

work for the first time in our town.

By inviting Khun Pisitakun the ANGKRITGALLERY confirms once more its artistic philosophy.

It is a beautiful mix of young, still unknown artists and well-established and renown colleagues

within Thailand's art scene.

It's not about names, it's about the quality of their work. It's there the line is drawn.

The philosophy contributes strongly to the cosmopolitan character of the gallery; the kind of

works shown lacks any form of 'pastorality', nor is it seeking to be legitimized by references

to 'Holy Matters' or is it enchained by disastrous deep bows to conformism.

The spiritual atmosphere of this gallery reaches a height from which borders and regional differences

become invisible, irrelevant and thus melt away.

This might be the reason that looking at the temporary exhibitions and the permanent presentation

one gets the feeling of being enabled to escape for a moment from time and place.

It's like breathing freedom, based on the splendid and borderless universality of the human spirit and mind.

Khun Pisitakun himself about the large scale drawings installation PLANT (2010) that he shows at angkritgallery:

“I like to contemplate on complexity of a tree and branches; its structure constructed without rules, moving,

flowing, depending on its condition. It is a perpetuation of an endless flow so long as the tree stands.

This continuance inspires me to keep drawing an infinite structure, entangled and perplexed, sprouting without end.

Stop when I am lazed. Start when I’m vigorous. No definite rules and branches on my will, of all my life, it is the

structure I long for.”

Limbo

Khun Pare Nadda in front of one of the works

angkritnov8.bmp

[Limbo]

Tomorrow, or today, whenever you read this, at 6 pm.

To avoid misunderstandings: the first of March.

Limbo

Where?

At Angkritgallery.

What?

Hmmmm .....

[Limbo]

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When C'rai artist Angkrit Ajchariyasophon almost a year ago opened ANGKRITGALLERY

it was his intention to present and thus define the artistic identity of his gallery by a series

of ten exhibitions.

This series is going to be crowned after the present exhibition by a renowned art gallery in

Bangkok by renaming itself 'Angkritgallery' during the group exhibition of the 10 artists that

exhibited their work in the Chiang Rai during the first year of the gallery's existence.

We can also look forward to the publication of a book that not only will document the first year

of ANGKRITGALLERY, but by doing so at the same time will give an interesting view of a less

manifest, but not less sparkling art scene, not always visible behind the often rather imprenetable

surface of the more main stream art world.

We saw the work of art professors at famous art faculties of prominent Thai universities, we saw

artists that were officially invited to represent Thailand at international art manifestations of a calibre

not less than the Biennale of Venice but we also made acquaintance with work of completely unknown

artists.

What their work had in common was its character: Breaking new ground, non-conformistic, daring,

seeking for new definitions in art but at the same time very strongly anchored in the exploration of

life itself. Universal of character, yes, but unmistakenly larded with a fine flavour of Thainess.

At the moment the last exhibition of the series 'hangs' and is on view until end of March.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Monster 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . works of

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pornthep Chitphong

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On the picture: Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, Pornthep Chitphong and Budsakorn Wisitpongphan

Khun Pornthep is a self taught artist. Conquering a place in this world with the spiritual

luggage and also in the accompaniment outfit/armour of a punk he moved at an early age

from Samut Prakan to the Kaosan Road in Bangkok where he started to make drawings

for his livelihood. He survived by selling his work to the tourists populating the area.

He did so for years, but now he found a better place in Pai.

How he picked it up and where he picked it up will probably always remain questions, but looking

at his work you can't avoid that spontanious associations with A.R. Penck, Keith Haring and the Belgian

cartoonist Kamagurka offer themselves. Different places, different times and to a certain extend different

cultural gogrounds unified in a powerfull and expressive brush technique.

One's thoughts also tend to hoover into the direction of a form of neo figurative concepts.

The artists himself verbally expresses the drive behind the movements of his brushes by describing

his work in a probably retrospective riped way as follows:

. . . . . . "In the world of Imagination I live in, Humans are Maladies that live together.

. . . . . . Thought-Malady, From-Malady, Appearance-Malady and many more I couldn’t identify

. . . . . . all of these Maladies live together because they’re social-Maladies.

. . . . . . There are both small and big communities. Humans who love to have a strange act,

. . . . . . or love to isolate also called ” Malady” I am also Malady in the world with full of Maladies".

'Channeled' by Limbo

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New exhibition at ANGKRITGALLERY

The for Northern Thailand unique series of twelve exhibitions of the work of epoch-making Thai

contemporary artists under the curatorship of local artist and gallerist Angkrit Ajchariyasophon

(my apologies for disinforming you by mentioning ten earlier) presents its eleventh chapter:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . Post-Superhumanity


an exhibition by Kosit Juntaratip, subtitling his presented work with a quotation of Albert Einstein:

"I do not believe in immortality of the individual and I consider ethics to be an exclusively

human concern with no superhuman authority behind it".

The opening of the exhibit will take place 7.00 pm this Friday, April 23 at Angkritgallery

in Nang Lae, as usual by a presentation of the artist himself, followed by a pleasant exchange

of mind concerning art in general and the actual exhibition in particular, this time under the

title 'meeting the Post-Superhuman".

This show features new work of Khun Kosit, including large-scale mixed media, paintings

and sculptures.

About the artist and his work:

Kosit Juntaratip is born in 1971 in Chiang Mai. He is what you might call a 'pur-sang' (multi-media)

performing artist. He lives and works in Chiang Mai, studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of

Chiang Mai University from 1989-1993. From 1997-2003 he studied audio-visual art at the Academy

of Cologne and Media Arts/Photography at the Academy of Visual Art in Leipzig (Germany).

Since 2004 Kosit Juntaratip has been Lecturer of Media Art at the Media Arts and Design, a sub-faculty

of the Department of Fine Arts at Chiang Mai University.

His artistic work includes paintings and drawings, performances, installations, video, computer work,

photography and film. Since 1992 he had a number of group and individual exhibitions.

In 1994 he married on Valentine's day with sex doll (Lily Ovary) in Chiang Mai First Church and at of

the year he used his blood in a performance called "Kosit's Blood in Alphabet of LOVE" at Ideal Art

Gallery in Bangkok. During that times he was one of the founders of "Chiang Mai Social Installation

and Week of Suffering" with Uthit Atimana, Mitra Jai-Inn and Navin Rawanchaikul.

During his six years in Germany he experimented with conceptual art forms.

Recently he had a solo exhibition called KISS at BUG in Bangkok.

Limbo

The exhibition will be at show from 23 APRIL 2010 - 23 MAY 2010

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[svenivan]

"The opening of the exhibit will take place 7.00 pm this Friday, April 23 at Angkritgallery

in Nang Lae"

Where is Nang Lae ?

[Limbo]

"The opening of the exhibit will take place 7.00 pm this Friday, April 23 at Angkritgallery

in Nang Lae"

Where is Nang Lae ?

Nang Lae is de home land of the phu lae, the little pine apple born on Phuket.

Nang Lae is also the place of the Black Village of Thawan Duchanee and, just to mention another

soi, the pottery of Khun Somlak Pantiboon.

Take the last U-turn before Soi 12, leading to the Black Village, back into town.

That's where it is, coming form town exactly 2 km after the Chiang Rai Rajabhat University!

You can't miss it.

Limbo

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About 'The Post-Superhumanity"

Okay, the first association that would come to mind when 'Superman' is embraced

in art is for most people probably Roy Lichtenstein, one of the most famous American

artists from the pop-art periode in the sixties of last century. Some of his works are

quotations related to 'Superman'.

But enjoying the exhibition of Acharn Kosit Juntaratip I realized that the honor has to be

given to Joe Shuster himself, a Canadian born son of a Dutch father and an Ukranian

mother, who later became an American by choice.

He was the man who created "Superman' as early as in 1938 and as such he also showed

the 'dark' sides of 'Superman' (for the younger readers among us: it is not so long ago that

everything related to sexuality was considered 'dark' in the western world and among Catholics

there was even a belief that masturbation would weaken your spinal cord- and for the Thai readers

among us: most foreigners living here are fifty years and older, which might be the reason that

they show behaviour that in many cases can be explained by earlier shortcomings in the field of sex).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Warning for the sensitive souls among you:

Joe Shuster then, as as Acharn Kosit does now, didn't deny that sex actually plays an enormous

important role in life. I must therefore seriously warn those that consider sex evil, not to visit the

exhibition. There are a lot of references to sexuality and you might get seriously confused by

seeing graphical representations of it.

Also those who might think that a visit to the exhibition might help them to re-discover their own

partners sex-appeal I regretfully have to disappoint: It doesn't work that way!

Representation of sex in art is in most cases tongue-in-cheek, it can be instrumental to 'higher

purposes' or simply a cheap trick to catch attention of the picturally blind.

The exhibitions is about completely other things and these 'other things' are mediated to the visitor

by pictures and installations.

There is for instance a very beautiful painting of a school girl, at one side of the painting in her uniform

and on the other side in the upper part of a 'superman' outfit, while the naked lower part of her body is

receiving 'a gift' from a man evenso dressed in a superman outfit.

A beautiful picture, depicting the dualism that is so characteristic in Thai art.

You see it for instance also very strongly in the work of Acharn Chalong, Acharn Chaiwat and photographer

Tinnakorn, to mention some of the great artists of our town.

Limbo

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For a long time I didn't keep you up to date concerning the

activities in 9 Art Gallery/Architect Studio and Angkritgallery.

As the next activity in Angkritgalley is a sound performance by a

Singaporian artist the language problem might be easier to bridge

and the event might therefore be more interesting to attend.

. . . . . . . . . . "Cradle and crawls"

. . . . . . . . .. Angie Seah in Angkritgallery

Time: Saturday December 17 at 6.00 pm

Angie Seah is born in 1979 and based in Singapore. She is (like Angkrit Ajchariyasophon) a multi-

disciplinary artist. Since 1997, she has been making drawings, performance art, installations and

clay sculptures. The making of art is a tool for Angie to understand her social environment and to

respond and deal with everyday life within the context of her own being.

She has traveled a lot and participated in several performance art festivals in Singapore, Poland,

the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Romania, Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan.

In 2000, she was awarded an educational scholarship from the National Arts Council of Singapore and

graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology as a Bachelor of Arts with painting as

major subject. In 2005 she won a culture/language scholarship to Berlin for 3 months from the Goethe

Institut. She exhibited her work at many locations in South East Asia and did a few artist residencies

in Switzerland, Romania and Indonesia.

And now, this Saturday, her artist residencie at Chiang Rai, more precisely as a guest of the gallery

of Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, will be crowned by her performance and the drawings she made in our

town during the last two weeks will be on display.

Limbo

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For the location of Angkritgallery please stroll back a few postings in this thread.

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..............................................A View on 21st Century Thai Art

At the Institute of Contemporary Arts of Singapore Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani curated an exhibition of nine Thai leading

contemporary artists. Their work will be on show until February 7 at LASALLE College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street.

The exhibition includes mixed media installations, paintings, videos and photography works by the following participating a

rtists: Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Chusak Srikwan, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Piyatat Hemmatat,

Preeyachanok Ketsuwan, Ruangsak Anuwatwimon, Tawan Wattuya and Vichaya Mukdamanee.

"In a time when the Thai cultural zeitgeist is being redefined by a wave of younger artists, this exhibition offers multiple

reflections of contemporary Thailand by spotlighting iconic elements of daily life, vernacular culture and religion" (L P-P)

For those among us that are familiar with the art scene of Chiang Rai it will not be a surprise to see the name of Angkrit

on this list, as he is one of the few Chiang Rai artists with an international orientation. His work was exhibited in several

European countries, Hongkong, Japan and Malaysia.

Angkrit Ajcharyasophon the gallerist

For Thailand he became not only a sign board for its modern art but also an internal link to general, thus international, developments

in art. As gallerist his programming was a statement and it became a forum for artistic exchange.

The first twelve exhibitions, together a co-ordinated project, showed us the work of twelve northern artists, mainly living and working in

Chiang Mai. The result was that he not only was invited to participate as an artist in the first great art exhibition of the Bangkok Art and

Culture Centre in 2008 but that he not much later was invited to curate an exhibit of the works of northern artists in the same, most

prestigious art institute of Thailand. This happened shortly after he had been invited by one of the most famous avant garde galleries

of Bangkok to do exactly the same.

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Art has to be learned

For Chiang Rai his Angkritgallery has become an obligatory dependance of the art courses of the Mae Fah Luang and Chiang Rai

Rajabhat universities. Whenever he has the possibility to do so he will work with the students himself. For him the relation with his

public has a reciprocal nature. In most of the work he did (for instance in Paris and Oslo two years ago) the public gets an active role.

Interpretation and participation are key concepts. The line between learning and teaching is very thin within this framework of thinking

about art.

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In the mean time it is ten years ago that I had the pleasure and privelige to be the curator of one of his first and greater happenings

of conceptual art. It all took place in the old Paw Wattana Hotel at the Tannalai Road under the title and denominator Nostalgia,

Chiang Rai My Town.

The public played an important role and a social context was created in which local government officers, the fine fleur of the Chiang Rai

art scene, but also the Vespa Club and the old light motorbike club each played a role. Classic cars and motorcycles filled the street in front

of the old wooden hotel and gave the happening, together with a French lady singer, an acoustic embedment. Several years later I worked

with him at the to a certain extend controversial Cultural Waste exhibition at Rai Mae Fah Luang.

'This artist will go far' I thought at the time. Now I know that Angkrit Ajcharyasophon will go much further! Chiang Rai can be proud of him!

Limbo

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Edited January 14, 2012 by Limbo