THAI ART IN 2021

ART4D SPEAKS WITH ANGKRIT AJCHARIYASOPHON ABOUT THE THAI CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE IN 2021 THAT FACES WITH A NUMBER OF CHALLENGES SUCH AS THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC, ECONOMIC CRISIS AND ART MARKET DISRUPTION FROM ‘NFT’, AND ALSO REVEALS HIS FAVORITE ART EXHIBITION OF 2021

TEXT : PRATARN TEERATADA
PHOTO CREDIT AS NOTED

(For Thai, press here) 

2021 was undoubtably a year of struggle for everyone, from the pandemic to the economic problems that worsened as a result. art4d talks with Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, artist, curator and founder of Angkrit Gallery (Chiang Rai) and Artist + Run Gallery about the movement of Thai Contemporary art and his favorite exhibitions in 2021.

art4d: What was  The Thai Contemporary art scene like in general in  2021?

Angkrit Ajchariyasophon: The COVID-19 pandemic did cause many art and culture-related activities to cease or be postponed indefinitely, but we still got to see several amazing exhibitions in the latter part of the year. Including exhibitions such as Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Extended Release,’ Tawan Wattuya’s ‘Keep in the Dark’ at Silpakorn Art Gallery, ‘Oblivion’ by Arin Rungjang at Nova Contemporary, Poetry of Death, we are all alone…how ghosts found us by Patcharapa Inchang at Cartel Artspace.

But what’s really considered groundbreaking and has caused a tremendous stir in the global art world is Beeple’s NFT collection that Christie has auctioned off at $69 million, which was like THB 2.2 billion.

2021 is the year that NFT art really took off for Thai artists who are starting to digitize and animate their paintings. Oil paintings are converted into JPEG files and sold as NFT. But the people who really dominate the scene are the young generation artists who are familiar with the gaming culture, music, street art, graphic design, graffiti and character design. They are now opening their own gallery spaces without the need for a middleman. They’re showcasing and selling their works on a marketplace such as OpenSea or Foundation, which have been platforms for a lot of artists’ thriving success, but there are also many who have been swept away and drowned in this open sea. If you’re an art enthusiast, you have to keep your eyes wide open. We will be seeing some hybrid art exhibitions that feature both physical and NFT works, like a buy one get one type of deal. And we will be able to enjoy many more waves to come while surfing on Web 3.0.

art4d: What are your expectations from the art world in 2022?

AA: I hope to see works that are powerful, those reflecting human values, inspiring; art with the ability to bring some sorts of change to a society, no matter in what shape or form they’re in.

art4d: What are your favorite exhibitions in 2021?

AA: I can tell you one of my favourites right away. It’s Unforgetting History by Sirisak Saengow and it’s still showing now at Cartel. He has created this collection of ceramics called ‘Blue Dust’ using the stencil technique where blue dusts are sprinkled on the white ceramic texture of each piece. They look like faceless people who are at a protest, and they’re being enclosed, they resist and are caught, some are choked, dragged and manhandled. There are 16 pieces in that collection.

Another one is called ‘Censored’ where he created these small pieces of ceramic tiles and arranged them into pixels and you have to squint your eyes to read the written sentence. You have to control your vision to make your eyes see things like when you just wake up in the morning or in that blurry stage between sleeping and waking up. It’s like if you want to see the truth underneath what’s being censored, you have to look at it from faraway, from a very long distance. The ceramic pieces are in the shape of 25 different looking guns, hung on the wall and arranged in a pyramid shape, and the work is titled ‘History of guns.’ The gun at the top of the pyramid is a pistol with the numbers ‘090689’ engraved on it, referencing the date, June 9^th, 2489 B.E.

The next work titled ‘Colt (M1911)’ comprises 8 ceramic pieces made in the shape of a semi-automatic .45 Colt Government (M1911) installed in the shape that is similar to two superimposed Swastika symbols from the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.

Another work called ‘Untitle’ and it features an installation of a table calendar with an image of yellow roses on it, pictures of a protest, a massacre, soldiers in the color blue, a notebook computer, a QR code, a cup, a cigarette butt, books, posters, old newspapers, a foldable steel chair, paper documents, all of which are ceramic. The entire space is covered with different types of cartridge cases as well, that are also ceramic.

Sirisak Saengow recreates objects and evidence in the modern history of Thailand using earth as the material, playing with our perception, fooling us with his art in the country that wants people to forget the truth.