Paul Phothyzan considers himself first and foremost an artist who’s created a substantial body of work since becoming interested in the arts in 1997. Some of the most startling results of his experimentation are now on view at the Singapore Art Museum.

Paul earned his bachelor’s degree in painting at the National Institute of Fine Arts in 2007 and a master’s in visual arts at Thailand’s Mahasakham University in 2011.

He’s had solo exhibitions at Champa Muanglao in the French Language Centre in 2004 and the Mask Gallery in 2015, both in Vientiane.

Paul Phothyzan’s installation displays at Singapore Art Museum. Photo courtesy of Paul Phothyzan.

There have also been group exhibitions both at home and abroad. He participated in the Asian International Art Exhibition in Bangkok and Singapore Biennale 2013, the Fukuoka Tiennale Japan and Milan Art and Design Exhibition in Singapore in 2014, the Remembrance Re-imagining Asean + Korea Exhibition in Jakarta in 2015, and the Gongju International Art Festival in South Korea.

Paul says he now has a better grasp of his art and “where it lives in the world” than when he first started out, adding that there are many forms that can relay ideas.

He says drawings and paintings can only transform some ideas and feelings, but he realised the “frame” in which he painted and drew had become much smaller and narrower. He decided in 2007 to go outside the frame by exploring installations and “land art”.

Paul has continued developing these pieces with an eye to creating a “new trend of exhibitions for the Lao public”.

The exhibition in Singapore includes a “boat” he fashioned from the casing of a bomb dropped on Laos sometime during the war. Inside, he planted flowers, reflecting the largely rural lifestyle in Laos.

“The concept was that something meant to destroy could be put to good use – what was once dangerous instead benefits people in the form of a boat or a garden,” he says.

More than 1,000 people attended the show’s opening earlier this month. The exhibition continues for four months, ample time to convey a sense of the work being produced by Lao artists. The show also features work by Japanese, Thai and Singaporean artists.

The show is part of the seventh edition of a family-focused project titled “Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth”. It offers a closer look at our surroundings so we can better appreciate how people, animals and plants adapt to the changing environment.

After Singapore, Paul’s pieces will return to Laos for a show at Vientiane’s Eastern Art Gallery, which he founded in 2015 to bring art to children and students who love drawing and painting but have no time in school to develop their skills.

“I saw a lot of kids who loved art, but whose parents wanted them to focus on other fields,” Paul says. “They don’t really have much time to study art in school, so that was the reason I opened the gallery, to provide art education on weekends for young people.”

Hundreds of students have since visited the gallery on weekends, which has up to six teachers available at any given time. “During school vacations I hire some of the city’s art teachers to run classes at the gallery,” Paul says.

Some come from the National Institute of Fine Arts, and others are freelance artists.

“Studying art helps people see the beauty in things,” Paul says. “The delicate aspect of art can also ease some of our current social problems and help people to relax.”