2008-03-06
Pinaree Sanpitak: Art through the Breast
Iola Lenzi
Pinaree Sanpitak is one of Thailand’s leading contemporary practitioners as well
as one of the country’s few internationally recognized woman artists. Known primarily for her restrained and restated lexicon of images associated
with the female body, Pinaree’s work stands apart from that of some of her more socially and politically vocal
Thai counterparts. Claimed as she inevitably is by the feminist camp, the artist disputes her categorization
as a woman artist exploiting a gender agenda, as well as the implicit connotations
of such labeling. And though some have read her use of domestic-related media—silk, food, soft
furnishings, candles—as confirming a gender bias, these commentators ignore both
Pinaree’s frequent reliance on gender neutral media such as cast metal, as well as the
fact that numerous Southeast Asian male practitioners un-self consciously choose
craft/soft materials for their creations. Indeed, the universality of Pinaree’s vision and message, albeit conveyed in a deeply personal manner, gives her practice
a broad resonance, the female form—or one of its deconstructed parts—articulating
a pluralistic, expansionist view of the world rather than a feminist perspective
of exclusion.
In the early days of her career, Pinaree formalized the female body. Her limbless,
headless torsos were massive and abstracted, heavy with a womanly rather than
feminine potency that was more narrative-of-self than generic gender commentary.
Gradually, over time, Pinaree progressed from an evocation of the female trunk, always formally reductive, to more specific
anatomical references. The breast, with its powers of nurture and solace, became
a particular favorite. Reworked in various media, evoking different atmospheres
and rhythms, Pinaree’s subtly differentiated breast icons, despite constant thematic repetition, remain
visually and conceptually fresh to this day.
Much of Pinaree’s work, whether graphic or three dimensional, possesses a sculptural, organic,
abstracted quality. In her oeuvre of the last several years, her breast images have been assimilated
with vessels and stupas, both key icons of the Buddhist faith. But the intention is not so much a religious
reference as an identification, elliptical at that, with the humanity at the heart
of all faiths, as well an oblique look at Asian cultural renewal through the re-interpretation
of indigenous emblems. “… in Southeast Asia these emblems have a coded value with
religious as well as wider cultural connotations. I am quite aware of these but
I also like the shapes, the purely formal aspect of these totems…” says the artist.
Certainly, there is a clear link between their centrality in the tradition, and
their appeasing, tactilely and aesthetically comforting shape.
In the early 1990s, at the beginning of the artist’s career, which coincided
with a period of intense artistic vibrancy in Thailand, Pinaree focused primarily
on two-dimensional expression. Seminal series of the time include a paint on canvas group of abstracted female Caesarian-scarred torsos (Patched up, 1997) which emerged after the birth of the artist’s first child, as well as
a yet more stylized, geometric interpretation of the same imagery which the artist
produced as both charcoal drawings and prints on paper (Womanly Tensions, 1999). Large scale and generally monochrome, these radiant canvases and graphic
works speak of the monumentality of motherhood, birth, and by extension, the most
fundamental of human dynamics, the birth, life, and death cycle. ...read more on C-Arts Magazine (ISSUE#02) read more in ARTISTS PROFILES @ C-ARTS VOLUME-02
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HIGHLIGHTS
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2011-03-30
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Van Gogh Alive – the Exhibition set to open on 16 April 2011
Singapore (30 March 2011) In commemoration of Van Gogh’s birth date today, the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands announced that it will host the world touring premiere of Van Gogh Alive – the Exhibition. Visitors will get to experience Vincent Van Gogh’s art work come alive in an exhibition that will combine the latest in sound and projection technology using images of Van Gogh’s masterpieces.
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2011-01-05
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Works by Vincent Leow A mid-career survey of Vincent Leow’s oeuvre marking a new direction in the artistic practice of Leow,
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2011-01-05
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Organized by Hou Hanru in collaboration with ShContemporary 9th September, 2010
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2031-01-01
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An interesting exploration into art in Singapore by nineteen artists, including seniors like Tang Da Wu, Jimmy Ong and Zai Kuning “who have lived
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2010-10-06
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The installations of Java’s Machine: Phantasmagoria by Augustinus Kuswidananto (a.k.a. Jompet) have been shown in a number of variations, exploring syncretism or strategies to reconcile
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2010-10-06
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Filipino artist Bembol Dela Cruz presents the concept of art reflecting art, with an explosive narrative that carves life out
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2010-10-06
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Islamic art in Indonesia used to be associated with religious calligraphy only, but in 2009 Lawangwangi’s exhibition of Contemporary Islamic Art showed that calligraphy is just a form of language.
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SPONSORED
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EMERGING ARTIST
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 There is a new epidemic trend in the contemporary art of Asia sweeping through the population of younger artists: Animamix Art.
Amalia Kartika Sari
Each artist has a full right, and at the same time an obligation, to explore forms and ideas continuously, although naturally there will be many obstructions and challenges along the way.
Hayatudin
“A community is often proud of a certain building, viewing it with a sense of grandeur. Meanwhile, a range of monumental idioms are often used to mark great moments in history.
Edo Pillu
 From different generations and cultural backgrounds, S Teddy D and Daniel Flanagan present together their collaboration on Transubstantiation.
Daniel Flanagan
From different generations and cultural backgrounds, S Teddy D and Daniel Flanagan present together their collaboration on Transubstantiation.
S Teddy D
 Not unlike other Filipino-Americans who journey to the Philippines to learn more about their roots, Hanna Pettyjohn undertook such a passage in reverse.
Hanna Pettyjohn
I do not wish to become a president, professor, doctor, governor, celebrity, corruptor, politic expert or anything else.
Nyoman Darya
Solo Exhibition:
1998 Urban Personality Exhibition, Chongqing, China
2001 Hangzhou Jincai Gallery
He Wei-Na
 Ong-Arj’s painting has point out thoroughly content in a society condition today. Even it express through looks weird human image.
Ong-Arj Loeamornpagsin
 Fazar paints with his heart. He believes that his interpretation is like “worship”. Any composition existing in his painting is his effort of concretizing what he feels.
Fajar Roma Agung Wibisono
 With great imagination, he has been using a very unique artistic language to express his very much primitive and strong emotion on the surrounding characters.
Yang Pei Jiang
 In Ardana’s works garlic becomes most artistic in various ways it is rendered whether it is presented individually or in groups of bulbs, cut open, blown up, its thin and transparent layers peeled, as well as severed and torn.
Dewa Ngakan Ardana
Filippo Amato Sciascia (born at Palma, Di Montechiaro, Italy, 1972) will present his solo exhibition of his recent works titled Lux Lumina at Kendra Gallery of Contemporary Art from the 12th December 2009 – 14th January 2010.
Lux Lumina
 Hui Xin’s art addresses both the phenomenon of our constant need for visual stimuli, as well as our desire to be surrounded by objects that give us pleasure. His new paintings and sculptures bring out a dichotomy between naive happiness and adult-themed amusements.
Hui Xin
Since childhood, Nano has enjoyed reading comics, even producing his own comic book in junior high school. Comics became the first visual art Nano came to know.
Nano Warsono
2002:"Ilusi Koran", Semarang Gallery, Semarang. "Transisi", Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta.
Budi Ubrux
 Selected Solo Exhibition
2005:“Paradoks Batas”, Edwin Galeri, Jakarta. 2003: “Painthink”, Edwin Galeri, Jakarta.
F. Sigit Santoso
 He got The Special Award From The 25th Exhibition of Contemporary art in 2008 and winner Prize from 11th Panasonic Contemporary Painting Competition when he postgraduate.
Chalermpon Ratanakomonwat
 The inspiration behind his recent paintings came in 2005 while he was observing his second child was a son. People say that when babies sleep they are guarded by angels. This common experience evoked a wave of questions: Was the baby dreaming? What was he dreaming about? What was he feeling?
WAHYU GEIYONK
 “Many artists like to ponder on the past and the present through the history of human civilization,” says young artist Wang Mian. “With pieces of information and inspiration they
WANG MIAN
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