BRIAN CURTIN, AN ART ACADEMIC AND CRITIC, ADDS THAILAND’S CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE FROM THE LATE 20TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT
TEXT: PRATARN TEERATADA
PHOTO COURTESY OF REAKTION BOOKS LTD
(For Thai, press here)
Brian Curtin
Reaktion Books Ltd, 2021
258 x 197 × 19 mm
176 pages
Hardback
ISBN 978-1-789-14293-8
Thailand has seen merely a handful of books that actually take an in-depth exploration into the country’s contemporary art scene. So far, there’s Modern Art in Thailand: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by Apinan Poshyananda and David Teh’s Thai Art: Currencies of the Contemporary. There is also a book by the Embassy of France that features contemporary cultural influencers in Thailand published in limited numbers last year. The latest addition to the list is Essential Desires: Contemporary Art in Thailand by BrianCurtin of CommDe faculty together with Reaktion Books UK. It’s incredibly delightful to see someone taking a different look and exploring the existing database, which didn’t exactly include that much information about Thailand’s contemporary artists that have emerged from the late 20th Century to present.
Brian Curtin is an art academic and critic who has been in the Thai Contemporary art’s inner circle for a long time. For the book, he dived deep and went back to witness the history behind the evolution of Thai Contemporary art that has taken place in the past three decades. He began writing the essay in 2014 with stories of artists, their works and mindsets that have been closely related to the impact of Bangkok’s consumerism during the 1990s, the inheritance of traditional Thai art, and the critical incidents, particularly those related to the country’s political movements and violences. The book features renowned artists from the 1990s such as Surasi Kusolwong, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Montien Boonma, Kamin Lertchaiprasert, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Pinaree Sanpitak, Sakarin Krue-On, Natee Utarit, Nipan Oranniwesna, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, and several other prominent figures. Through an extensive collection of their works presented in the book, Curtin tells the story of the evolving history of Thailand’s contemporary art and its connection to the global art scene and the country’s critical political progressions. The story is intense, concise, and told without overly sensationalizing any aspect. He also introduces the refreshing and reinvigorating energy of the later generation from figures such as Korakrit Arunanondchai, Sornchai Phongsa, Orawan Arunrak and Woraphan Intaraworapad. The latter part documents what the previous publications didn’t archive, including the Thai artirsts’ continual recognition in the global arena, projects such as the Early Years Project, which has become a platform for budding talents to showcase their artistic expressions. Some create, some provide opportunities and some document. That’s how the world should go on. No one is left behind, and people born in the present or future can have legitimate sources of knowledge that can help them understand the evolution of human civilizations in this particular part of the world. It’s comprehensive and complete, and it puts everything together so that we don’t have to waste our time looking around for bits and pieces of information here and there. Because life is short, and art is both long and prolific.
