North Philly winter

Ghost Walls

Ghost Walls is a series of new work that travels through the communities of Philadelphia using the remaining plaster walls from torn down row homes as a canvas.

North Philly Walls

Descending Tower

First Thai Bronze Cast

Here is a early look at my first thai bronze.  Now we will go back and cut and polish the bronze.  For the first cast we followed the traditional lost wax process and cast directly into bronze without making a mold.  Once this bronze is cleaned and all the imperfections are removed then we will go ahead and make a mold for production.

Exhibition Management Seminar at William Warren Library, Jim Thompson Foundation

As part of my Asian Cultural Council fellowship and thanks to the help of Gridthiya Gaweewong and the William Warren Library we organized a seminar on exhibition management for various cultural management staff in Bangkok.  Participants included staff from the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, the new Bangkok Art and Culture Center, and the Jim Thompson Art Center and Museum staff.    It is not correct to assume that with all of these super modern shopping malls Bangkok would also have a super modern museum.  The most recent attempt for such a space is the Bangkok Art and Culture Center which had opened nearly a year ago and despite the large amount of exhibition and public programming space the biggest challenge is how to manage such a diverse multi purpose building.   There are so many talented young artists and cultural managers in Bangkok but there are so few opportunities for them to gain experience on international standard exhibitions. So thanks to the help of Gridthiya Gaweewong and the William Warren Library we organized a talk about traditional and contemporary art exhibitions, biennales and alternative art spaces.  The goal of the seminar was to teach our thai peers about how to improve exhibition standards through effecient management using such programs as filemaker and also how to prepare for working with traditional and contemporary art and the materials and tools needed to maximize the safety and preservation of artwork.

Thai spirit houses

Door of a Beating Heart, New work by Thanet Awsinsiri at Bankok University Gallery

The Artist

New Work by Tawatchai Puntusawasdi

Tawatchai Puntusawasdi is one of Thailand’s most patient and hard working artists.   Over the years he has developed a visual langauge that immediately challenges your perception.   This image was taken in his backyard at his home and studio just outside of Chang Mai.   He has been enjoying the company of his rural neighbors after a long period of his life in Bangkok for school and work.  This piece is currently on view in front of the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center as part of the exhibition “Bangkok…Bananas” an outdoor sculpture festival organized by Dr. Apinan Poshyananda and the OCAC.   Tawatchai has come along way since he was the assistant of the late great Montien Boonma.  His work has been in the Venice Biennale, Sydney Biennale, and is currently in an ASEAN photo show in Korea.  Tawatchai is just one of the many thai artists who was a student of Montien’s and like so many others still smile  everytime you mention Ajaan Montien.

New Lost wax work

Indonesian Artists Collective: Taring Padi

Yesterday, Jeab took me to an alternative gallery space called Conference of the Birds, 131/18 Soi Pan, Silom Road.  Two of the artists from the collective Taring Padi from Jogjakarta were there to show us some of the work they have been doing for the last few years. Their artist collaborative is made up of a number of artists and musicians that has been working with local communities in Indonesia on a number of political and communtiy activist projects. They work mainly in handprinted woodblock prints, but they also create large scale murals that they eventually donate to the communties they help.   The prints are bold and densely populated with imagery and words expressing their concerns for corrupt politics and abuseses of the land.  On the third floor of the building there is a movie that documents their art, activism, and rock and roll.  This movie is impressive.  Seeing their work and their struggle against the politics and challenges of their circumstance makes most communtiy activism I have seen in America seem passive at best.   The show is up until the 24th of July, 2009, and I think the artists are only in town a couple of more days.  So if you are in Bangkok I would definately try to check them out.  I look forward to learning more about them.