BEMYSELF

A RECORD OF THE GROWTH OF AN 11-YEAR-OLD BOY, WHO SHARES HIS LOVE, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, PERSONAL DREAMS, AND FRANKLY QUESTIONING THE WORLD, IN ‘BEMYSELF’ SOLO ART EXHIBITION BY ROMAN

TEXT: PRATARN TEERATADA
PHOTO CREDIT AS NOTED

(For Thai, press here)

Arriving at the entrance of BEMYSELF     one quickly learns that reaching the exhibition space on the third floor is no effortless ascent. The journey requires a slow climb up a steep, twisting staircase that is narrow, angular, and unmistakably marked by the idiosyncrasies of an old shophouse.

Roman grew up in a household where art was not merely present but all-encompassing: his father was an artist, his mother as well, and even his younger brother was drawn to making art. Though based primarily in Hua Hin, Thailand, where he lives and creates, Roman has carried his practice abroad, traveling and working in cities across the world. Many of his peers, however, were raised in circumstances entirely unlike his own, shaped by different lifestyles, tastes, and perspectives. This contrast seems to have planted in him a persistent question: Who exactly is Roman? This solo exhibition is his attempt to answer, to declare to the world that this is Roman, at least for now.

The story begins, almost tenderly, with a dog. Roman’s very first was a beagle, bought with money he painstakingly saved from selling his own drawings. He named it Salmon, simply because he liked eating the fish so much. Visitors will encounter this Salmon in dual incarnations: as a piscine-human hybrid sprawled across a yellow ground, and as a beagle rendered once more, layered just above.

Roman’s father loved takoyaki, but Roman himself couldn’t eat it because he was allergic to squid. That’s the kind of story he tells: simple, easy to grasp, the sort that makes sense a beat later, and then the “ba-dum-tss!” goes off in your head. As you move through the exhibition, these anecdotes begin to add up, drawing the viewer closer to the artist’s life, to the way he was raised and cared for.

Roman doesn’t drink milk, although when it comes to sweets it is always the same: ‘Sweet, I love it.’ Whenever he runs into trouble, it is his mother who comes to the rescue. In a painting titled Mother’s boy, Roman writes about her: ‘Mom help me every time when I have problem. Mom is a super hero. THIS IS MY BEST HERO.’  (Applause, please.) Daily life appears in works like Leg Cream. Stand before the canvas and you will hear his mother’s voice reminding him not to forget the lotion for his legs. His father’s refrain is there too, repeating over and over against a bright red background: “Do not forget to tie your shoelaces.”

If Roman were ever to reinvent himself as a musician, he imagines calling himself ‘Benji,’ with a rabbit as his emblem. His debut album, he jokes, would surely include songs about his father’s morning refrain: “Make your bed.” Each work feels like one of those messages, tender and oddly endearing. Even from Mars, it would be plain to see: all of this is nothing but love.

Roman still dreams of one day filling his home with Ferraris and guitars. These are the stories of his everyday life, interwoven with personal aspirations. Yet among the sixteen works on display, a few venture further afield, moving away from the strictly autobiographical. In Money, for instance, Roman reflects on the state of society and the economy through a bright orange crab. The crab’s struggle to swim becomes a metaphor for the daily grind of earning a living. Watching it, one feels exhausted on its behalf. No, not exhausted for the crab, but for us humans.

There are also works that take on a more lyrical register. In BEMYSELF, Roman draws on the memory of hearing Kyu Sakamoto’s song ‘Sukiyaki,’ most recently encountered in the animated film Up on Poppy Hill. In one scene, the characters sing it together, a moment staged as a celebration of human connection. A fragment of the Japanese lyrics, translated into English, reads:

I look up as I walk
So that the tears won’t fall
Happiness lies beyond the clouds
Happiness lies above the sky

Roman inscribed a fragment of the lyrics onto his own work Sukiyaki. The piece is stripped down, free from clashing bursts of color, and instead subtle, sentimental, almost humanist in its restraint. The more one looks, the more a layered poetic meaning emerges from beneath its painted surface. What lies hidden under the uppermost veil of pigment begins to come through, bit by bit, until in one’s mind the music returns, along with the singing voice, and with it the intervals of time that the work itself seems to hold.

He completed all sixteen works of BEMYSELF in just four days, producing, installing, and preparing them entirely within the gallery space. His support team was his family: father, mother, and younger brother. They were hauling frames, supplies, rinsing brushes, fetching water. Roman worked methodically, planning his process as if structuring a story. He began with sketches in a notebook, laid the first ground on each canvas, then built up successive layers using a mix of practiced techniques and risk-taking gestures. At times, he brushed paint without concern for right or wrong; at others, he paired colors based purely on instinct. What stands out most is his ability to tell stories through forms, lines, and colors, expressing freedom, joy, and the sensibility of his present age.

Soon Roman will enter a new stage of life. His voice will deepen, his body will grow taller, his mind will develop more intricate systems of thought. His art will advance as well, both in technical ability and in theoretical understanding. Yet neither the older Roman nor the more skilled Roman of the future could ever again create BEMYSELF as it exists in 2025. The stories he chooses to tell will shift, the techniques will be sharper, but the work will never take quite this form again. To preserve this kind of luminous, playful quality; work that captures the candor and delight of an eleven-year-old, yet is executed with accumulated skills and an awareness of beauty earned through discipline, he will need to train relentlessly, learning how to break free of structure while still holding onto innocence.

BEMYSELF is, in essence, the diary of an eleven-year-old boy named Roman. The works fall easily under the label of Pop Art, given their alignment with popular tastes. Yet to me, they read as abstract pieces that tell stories through figurative elements.

As you make your way up from the first floor toward the third, where BEMYSELF unfolds, here are a few suggestions to carry with you on the climb.

• You are going to see the work of an artist, not merely the work of a child who has yet to turn twelve.
• Imagine, for a moment, the heads of state waging wars around the world, some far away, some disconcertingly close to home.
• Now, replace them with vivid characters drawn in bold color.
• Then turn your thoughts to the toxic churn of social media.
• Perhaps the hateful commentary directed at politicians, and the hostility volleyed back by their supporters.
• Picture those same politicians anew, but this time rendered with hearts that are bright, open, and joyful.
• By the time you reach the second floor, let yourself drift off the planet altogether. Float farther and farther until Earth appears as a tiny sphere below, with the massive orbs of other planets looming beyond. Paint them as you wish. Give them strange faces, odd expressions. Let your imagination run wild.
• You may feel a little out of breath here. That is your cue: you are stepping into a new world.
• Welcome to Roman’s world.

‘BEMYSELF’ Solo Art Exhibition by Roman is on view from August 9 through September 30, 2025, on the third floor of MON Izakaya.

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