EXPLORE THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN ART, LIVING SPACES, AND ICONIC FURNITURE THROUGH A CURATED PAIRING OF LEGENDARY BRANDS MOLTENI&C AND POLTRONA FRAU WITH THE ABSTRACT MASTERPIECES OF ARJINJONATHAN ARJINKIT AND SOMBOON HORMTIENTONG
TEXT: PRATARN TEERATADA
PHOTO COURTESY OF EURO CREATIONS
(For Thai, press here)
Abstract art is a visual language constructed through formal elements such as color, line, form, texture, and proportion. Through these components, it communicates emotion, sensation, and conceptual thought without reliance on fixed representation. It resists rigid definition and grants viewers interpretive freedom, while emphasizing sensory and emotional experience. Often associated with the movement of Abstract Expressionism, the approach channels emotional intensity through gestural brushwork. A number of abstract artists have achieved international acclaim and command significant value among global collectors, including Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Clyfford Still, and Gerhard Richter.
Somboon Hormtientong
“Art is an aesthetic creation shaped by humans to lend meaning and value to life.”
– Somboon Hormtientong
The exhibition Dialogue: A Conversation of Art, Space and Icons, currently on view at the Euro Creations showroom on Thonglor Soi 5, presents a carefully composed conversation between art, domestic space, and iconic furniture design. Works from two leading Italian brands, Molteni&C and Poltrona Frau, are placed in dialogue with contemporary pieces by Somboon Hormtientong and Arjinjonathan Arjinkit.
Somboon Hormtientong is a Thai contemporary artist with an international reputation, recognized for his abstract painting practice and for synthesizing Western and Eastern philosophical thought. He lived and worked in Munich for more than thirty years before returning to Thailand to establish his studio along the Mekong River in Loei Province. Among his most celebrated works is the installation of fourteen wooden pillars titled The Unheard Voice, currently exhibited at Dib Bangkok.
Arjinjonathan Arjinkit
Arjinjonathan Arjinkit is also a practitioner of abstract art. For more than a decade, he has developed a body of work that expresses social perspectives and spatial awareness through assertive lines, vivid colors, and dynamic form. Before committing brush to canvas, a loose composition first takes shape in his mind. The work then unfolds in layered strata, with each element carefully orchestrated to maintain tension within the frame. For viewers, encountering Arjinjonathan’s abstraction is akin to entering a chromatic landscape. One travels through shifting tonalities, senses the fluidity of emotion, and engages in the open-ended play of imagination.
Within the Molteni&C display area, the dialogue unfolds with the work of Somboon Hormtientong. Molteni&C is recognized as a high-end home furnishings brand whose products embody both refined aesthetics and technological excellence. Its pieces are widely specified for museums, hotels, restaurants, cruise vessels, and luxury residences around the world. Each collection is designed by internationally acclaimed design figures such as Patricia Urquiola, Jean Nouvel, Rodolfo Dordoni, Vincent Van Duysen, and Foster + Partners
Somboon Hormtientong’s abstract paintings enter into a concentrated and powerful exchange with Molteni&C. There is no stridency of color. Instead, a sense of composure prevails. The works carry narratives shaped over time and require patient absorption. Lines that are at once restrained and free reveal traces of lived experience, journeys undertaken, and thoughts carefully distilled over time. Together, Molteni&C’s furniture and Somboon’s abstraction form what might be described as an ‘end-to-end solution,’ moving in quiet harmony. Viewers are invited to linger and slowly savor the emotional register of a dialogue between art and iconic design that is both powerful and serene.
The second dialogue transpires between Arjinjonathan and Poltrona Frau, the renowned Italian furniture house founded in 1912. Internationally recognized for its mastery of leather and Italian craftsmanship, the brand is distinguished by a refined, contemporary elegance that transcends time. Poltrona Frau is also the preferred producer of leather interiors for high-end automotive marques such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce, as well as for the yacht and aviation industries. Its presence spans the full spectrum of luxury lifestyle sectors. Beyond its celebrated sofas and armchairs, Poltrona Frau’s portfolio includes lighting, bookcases, beds, tables, and a wide range of decorative objects. Over the decades, its creations have come to embody a design ethos in which furniture approaches the condition of art, reflecting a cultivated and elevated quality of life.
Displayed alongside this collection, Arjinjonathan’s abstract works include a major, large-scale centerpiece that serves as a highlight of the exhibition, recently relocated from the Thailand Biennale in Phuket. The remaining works, installed throughout the showroom, radiate a sense of playfulness and visual vitality, inviting viewers to form their own interpretations.
For seasoned collectors and those already familiar with abstraction and the practices of both artists, the exhibition offers a deeply rewarding encounter with this layered conversation between art and design. For newcomers, it presents an accessible point of entry; a beginning along the path of contemporary art collecting, and an invitation to join a community that values art not merely as an acquisition, but as a source of lasting emotional and intellectual enrichment.
Dialogue: A Conversation of Art, Space and Icons remains on view through 17 May 2026 at the Euro Creations showroom, Thonglor Soi 5.