Billing himself as a social and cultural critic who expresses his view through visual art and contemporary jewellery, Taweesak designs formless jewellery that stimulates the senses of ambiguity.

The work reflects the conceptual existence of jewellery as an absolute object and a separate entity from the body. The deeper conceptual and physical relationship between jewellery and body is disregarded, with the jewellery redefined as a catalyst.

“Using both fragmented visual culture and existing experience of jewellery, I generate a condition in which the viewer is compelled to devise a new meaning and new perception in a theoretical and conceptual way in the context and content of today’s culture,” Taweesak explains.

Find out more at http://www.AttaGallery.com.

Forty-year-old artist, Sukit Choosri was awarded “the 2017 UOB Thailand Painting of the Year” for his painting “One Life”, which was inspired by his thoughts on the transience of our existence.

“One Life” encourages the viewer to open his or her mind to see beyond the immediate and the present. The tempera and acrylic painting depicts a young girl holding a lotus flower in her hands, her eyes reflecting a silhouette of the Buddha while enveloped in the shadow of a decaying Bodhi tree. The panel was unanimous in their choice of the painting for the top award because of the artist’s creativity in portraying the transience of life.

“As a Thai artist, I am honoured to win the UOB Thailand Painting of the Year award. The competition not only provides artists with opportunities to exhibit their works on the regional and international stage, it also inspires us to persevere in having art as a career,” Sukit said.

The painting was chosen from among 10 finalists in the Established Artist category and Sukit went home with a cash prize of US$25,000 (Bt750,000). His artwork will now compete with the winning entries from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for the UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year Award, which will be announced on November 8.

The panel of judges comprises Amrit Chusuwan, dean of the Faculty of Painting Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University; Professor Emeritus Dr Santi Leksukhum, art history specialist; and Chatvichai Promadhattavedi, board member and secretary of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre Foundation Executive Board.

The Silver Award went to “Plastic Tiger” by Ketsakda Wimonsong, an oil painting portraying daily human consumption of plastic and its adverse effects to human and the environment. Ketsakda was last year named “Most Promising Artist of the Year” on the basis of his painting “Effect of Consumerism”.

UOB also recognised Suthep Senkhong with the Bronze Award for his “Melody of Life 1”. He noted that nature is constantly changing, with every movement creating a dimension, beauty, mark, and formless difference, similar to the unavoidable truth of birth, existence, and death. Suthep also won Gold Award at 7th UOB Thailand Painting of the Year.

In the Emerging Artist category, 24-year-old Kananek Treetantiplert won the UOB Most Promising Artist of the Year award for his painting titled “Threefold Refuge”. The oil painting on canvas portrays the contradiction of tradition and materialism in the form of its subject – an electric incense burner.

Tan Choon Hin, president and chief executive officer of UOB (Thai), said that the UOB Thailand Painting of the Year competition aims to showcase to a regional audience the breadth of talent and creativity in Thailand.

“Over the past eight years, the competition has helped to introduce many emerging and established Thai artists to the rest of Southeast Asia. Their success will inspire others to follow in their footsteps and to contribute to the growth of Thailand’s thriving art community,” Tan said.

The winning and shortlisted paintings from both established and emerging categories are currently on display at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre until October 29, and will be at the UOB Head Office on Sathorn Road from October 30 to November 10. The exhibition is open to the public and admission is free.

 It’s at H Gallery Bangkok today through November 26.

In meticulously painted scenes, both with and without a human presence, Klose employs sharp contrasts of light and a gradated palette of colour.

“Between Intimacy and Estrangement” carries a deliberated framing of the immediate space of an individual through limited expanses and an aura of the wistful.

Dark interiors reach out to sun-drenched suburban housing estates and distant horizon lines, the frames of the windows suggesting a fragile confinement.

Klose’s paintings have always demonstrated his interest in structural thresholds and whether the play of light and shadow is abrupt or softly melancholic, the limits of difference between inner and other worlds is acute and compelling.

Klose recently resolved to intensify his methods by limiting the subject matter. A previous series titled “Disquiet” integrated found imagery with observed views, while the earlier works from “Witthayu” maintained a searching ambivalence prompted by the artist’s relocation to the seemingly infinite expanses of Bangkok.

The paintings of the current series were disciplined as a study of how the familiar could be mined for potential previously not noted. For example, Klose’s wife returns, but less as a portrait of a person than a cipher for contemplating a body’s relation to architectural space.

Bathed in shadows and physically de-emphasised, her back is turned in one work and moved towards the edge in others.

For the first time, Klose includes self-portraits, including a portrait of a portrait that reflects on his very medium and method.

Find out more at (085) 021 5508 and http://www.HGalleryBkk.com.

“Spectrosynthesis: Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now” features 50 works by 22 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, the United States and Singapore.

“Spectrosynthesis” is a mingling of “spectrum” and “photosynthesis”. The show has as its theme “Spectrum of light”, as shone on the LGBTQ community’s rich and diverse history.

The exhibition’s co-organiser, the Sunpride Foundation, supports artistic practice and promotes equal rights for LGBTQ individuals through meticulous research and discourse on contemporary art.

As the first exhibition on LGBTQ issues at a government-run art museum in a Chinese society, “Spectrosynthesis” features works that span nearly half a century of creation.

Brought together under the vision of independent curator Sean Hu from Taiwan, the exhibition presents a slice of art history, particularly looking at the life stories and related issues of the post-war Chinese LGBTQ community.

The exhibits touch upon a profusion of subject matter, such as identity, equality, the mass media’s propensity to hunt for novelty, social oppression, stigmatisation and lust, as well as life and death.

The works focus not only on the real predicaments that LGBTQ people are caught in on a daily basis, but also provide a comment on the evolving social structure, which is likely to change in the foreseeable future.

The exhibition builds on similar thematic exhibitions that are becoming more commonplace in the West. In 2017 Tate Modern and Tate Britain both hosted large-scale exhibitions of LGBTQ artists, well reflecting British society’s long-term accomplishments in promoting human rights.

However, such exhibitions and research projects have been conspicuously absent from the Chinese art scene. Taiwan is widely recognised as the most progressive and supportive centre of LBGTQ rights in the region and is likely to become the first Asian territory to legalise same-sex marriage.

“Spectrosynthesis” is therefore a timely presentation, “the first exhibition I have curated related to LGBTQ issues”, says Sean Hu.

“During the last three years while preparing for the exhibition, I have witnessed a growth in discussions and debates on LGBTQ issues in Asia. The recent constitutional decision in favour of same-sex marriage in Taiwan is of particular significance.

“‘Spectrosynthesis’ presents a wide range of works which relate to the topic of LGBTQ in various ways. The exhibition hopes to stimulate thoughts and challenge values and perspectives on human equality. All parties involved in the exhibition take love as their starting point, and I hope this is the beginning of an open dialogue on the topic.”

Follow the Sunpride Foundation and MOCA Taipei on Facebook and Instagram.

FOR ORDINARY citizens who won’t be able to get too close to the royal crematorium at Sanam Luang in Bangkok – and for anyone else wishing to understand the structure’s individual components better – the Thailand Creative and Design Centre has a wonderfully explanatory exhibition on the subject.

“Insight Thai Architecture”, continuing through January 7 at the centre in the Grand Postal Building on Charoenkrung Road, features full-scale models of the elaborate elements that have been affixed to the crematorium of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Each piece is accompanied by a textual explanation of its placement and meaning.

The royal crematorium that has risen at Sanam Luang over the past year is called Phra Merumas and incorporates the utmost achievements in Thai architecture – along with some decidedly modern advances in methodology.

Associate Professor Dr Chaiyasit Dankittikul, dean of architecture at Silpakorn University, notes that royal crematoria are “conceptual and temporary structures that are taken apart after the ceremony and never used again”.

“But each one is unique in its design, since it’s built for an individual funeral,” he says, and each time, traditional Thai architecture poses specific challenges in terms of achieving accuracy in shapes and scale.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is a reduced-scale model of the entire crematorium, embodying a veritable renaissance for Thai architectural creativity. The artists are, after all, seeing to recreate Heaven on Earth.

Surrounding the structure are statues of celestial beings – the garuda, the naga and other mythical creatures found in classical Hindu and Buddhist literature and in the Trai Bhumi beliefs that encompass final honours bestowed on a king.

It’s interesting to see the careful thought and painstaking creativity that’s gone into this and how the technology used in building the Phra Merumas has evolved over different reigns and eras.

Exhibition visitors also learn that full-scale architectural blueprints are crucial in getting the proportions right. Erecting a royal cremation is an exacting science and architects’ drawings amount to no less than masterpieces.

Professor Dr Praves Limparangsri, a National Artist and an architect who specialises in Buddhist art, recalls Silp Bhirasri – the revered “father of Thai modern art” – telling him that “1:1 scale artwork is pure architecture”. Silp said it shouldn’t even be attempted if the architecture is in any way “impure”, since it would only lead to mistakes.

“If the planning is faulty, we end up with an unbalanced building that has to be demolished.”

The planners might rely on techniques such as perspective distortion, in which depth of field is artificially adjusted as a guide towards the final aesthetics. But they know that that the dimensions of a given structure, even a large hall with a stupa, have to be precisely mapped out first in an actual-size drawing.

The government’s Fine Arts Department prepared an atelier expressly for this purpose, which Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn named the Witanasatapa- kasala, referring to an architectural workshop.

Here the top of the Phra Merumas, 28 metres in height, was first drawn actual size, as well as blueprints for the adjoining pavilions.

Here, too, modern technology came into use for the first time in the construction of a royal crematorium. Whereas in the past the models had to be individually carved in wood, a time-consuming process, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining was used to create 3D samples.

The architect first draws an annotated pattern for each level, to actual scale. This is pasted on a waxed sheet and guides the gradual layering of many sheets of wood. A properly dimensioned perspective emerges, no different from the models produced in the past by skilled craftsmen.

The millions of mourners who queued to pay their respects to King Bhumibol at the Grand Palace got to admire the meticulous carving in the sandalwood sheaths that contain the Royal Urn and Royal Coffin.

These entailed more than 30,000 stencil-cut pieces of sandalwood enmeshed to sheath the urn and coffin around a template of plated iron. Visitors could make out the traditional motifs in the garland-like carvings – lotuses, krajang, garuda, lions.

At the Design Centre, some of the mythical creatures are shown rendered in stencils of creased gold paper. This technique too is a component of “temporary architecture” and has this time been used in decorating the Royal Dharma Pavilion (Phra Thinang Song Dhamma), where members of the royal family and invited guests will assemble to listen to a sermon prior to the cremation.

Working from a stencil with a uniformly consistent pattern, artisans layer textured gilt paper (not the more durable gold leaf) and affix it to a wooden plank. A chisel is used to cut out the pattern, and finally coloured paper – sod waew – is fitted to the back.

The painters, of course, have an important role in the decorating. Their pigments adorn the surfaces of sculptures, canvases and the architectural components themselves. Visitors to the exhibition can learn the fine art of colour tapping, which involves punching a pattern in plastic sheets and using a sponge ball to tap colours through the stencil onto a separate material.

Smooth movements and steady hands can produce decorations of remarkable beauty and consistency. Traditionally, though, paper is used instead of plastic, gold leaf rather than paint pigments.

Fine Arts Department architect Patiwat Tuion notes that the chance to witness the revival of classical art forms is at least a minor consolation amid the heartbreaking loss of the beloved King.

“I was really delighted to see architecture students from Silpakorn and Chulalongkorn universities volunteering to help in any way they could,” says Patiwat, who designed the pavilion in front of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall for members of the royal family to pay homage before the late King’s remains.

“The students were very helpful in enlarging our architectural sketches for the crematorium to actual size.

“In learning about traditional Thai architecture, 90 per cent of the knowledge and skills come through hands-on experience. Kokiart Thongpud, who designed the crematorium itself, is a graduate in fine arts, not Thai architecture, but he learned his craft working closely with the late great Arwut Ngernchuklin, who designed the crematoria for Their Royal Highness the Princess Mother and Princess Galyani Vadhana and Princess Bejaratana Rajasuda.”

Patiwat says such work has always relied on the “old masters”, such as Arwut, Praves and Phra Phrombhi- chitr.

“I want to see more talents blossom in traditional architecture. Every educational institute should have a department of Thai traditional art. It’s crucial that we teach the younger generations to preserve this exquisite art.”

At the forefront of dance creation for decades, Stuttgart Ballet is famous for its pioneering works and “Taming of the Shrew” is one of its most lauded creations – a delightful ballet distinguished by spectacular dancing and hilarious action that does complete justice to the Shakespearean classic.

The entertaining two-hour ballet with lavish scenery and costumes, celebrates pure dance and strongly underlines Stuttgart Ballet’s classical traditions.

Stuttgart Ballet has built on its hometown’s long history of classical ballet, which goes all they way back to the 17th-century. Evolving from the court ballet of the Dukes of Wurttemberg, Stuttgart Ballet further underlines the city’s position as an acclaimed centre for dance in Europe. In 1957, Nicolas Beriozoff, a former dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was appointed to lead the ensemble. In 1961, acclaimed dancer John Cranko took over shaping the company “into a group with an exciting and visually arresting style”. His full-length narrative ballets – “Romeo and Juliet”, “Onegin” and “The Taming of the Shrew”, among several others, captured the attention of the ballet world.

The company’s first tour to the US in 1969 established Stuttgart Ballet as a classical company of note in America; Europe had already been conquered. The triumphant tour had critics talking about the “The Stuttgart Ballet Miracle”. Critics raved over the way he company danced with vitality, with passion and with great respect for the classical art form.

Over the years great dancers emerged and went on to become choreographers of note, among them Neumeier, William Forsythe, Uwe Scholz, Jiri Kylian and Renato Zanella.

“The Taming of the Shrew” underlines the critics’ contention that the company was a Stuttgart miracle. Cranko turned Shakespeare’s famous comedy into a two-act whimsical and witty masterpiece, set to a delightful score orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze (after Domenico Scarlatti). Critics have hailed this ballet as a “masterclass in transforming classic play into a ballet that celebrates pure dance”. With movement and music, Cranko’s choreography unveils the story of the constantly battling lovers Petruchio and Katherina. Petruchio is determined to “tame” Katherina, but Katherina will have none of it. The lavish sets and scenery by Elisabeth Dalton perfectly reflect Padua.

Today under the command of Reid Anderson, the company has a stylistically broad repertoire that attracts the best dance talent from all over the world. All of these well-established dancers will be performing in Bangkok.

Among them are Elisa Badenes and Alicia Amatriain who will dance Katherina on October 18 and October 19 respectively, while Petruchio is portrayed by Adhonay Soares da Silva on October 18th and Jason Reilly on October 19. Amatriain and Reilly both hold the national title of “Kammertaenzerin”, the highest status a dancer can achieve in Germany.

The show is supported by Crown Property Bureau, Bangkok Bank (PCL), Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (PCL), BMW Thailand, B.Grimm Group, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Ministry of Culture, Nation Group, PTT (PCL), Singha Corporation, Thai Airways International, Thai Union Group (PCL), and Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tickets are available at Thai Ticket Major (www.ThaiTicketMajor.com), or hotline (02) 262 3191 and at the counters.

For more information visit http://www.BangkokFestivals.com.

STAGE PRODUCTION teams often work as hard, if not harder, than the artists appearing on stage and one can only admire the energy of the crews involved in the dismantling and setting up of the stage for “West Side Story”. The international touring edition of the musical finished its three-week run in Singapore on September 30 and travelled to the City of Angels for its six performances at Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music, arriving hot on the heels of Malandain Ballet Biarritz’s “La belle et la bete”. That’s an amazing feat for the production teams and it’s a fair bet that the coffee stands near the Thailand Cultural Centre did a roaring trade as sleep-starved crews rushed to finish the sets.

But it also meant that these frequent travellers didn’t have enough time to adjust to our venue’s wider-than-standard stage and audiences seated in the side sections had less fun than those in the centre, as it became evident that the set wasn’t designed and built for this stage.

And if the photos look familiar, that’s because it’s the same 50th anniversary production, produced by Mannheim-based BB Promotion, which festival organiser International Cultural Promotions (ICP) brought here in 2006.

While there are also many other productions of this classic American musical, this production is the only one holding the license of the original direction and choreography by American performing arts legend Jerome Robbins.

With New York-based choreographer Joey McKneely also doubling as the director in recreating Robbins’ work, the highlight of this production was his choreography, which is as robust now as it was six decades ago. Likewise, Paul Gallis’s set design with two main sets of New York-style apartments with fire escapes left ample room for it.

Vigorous and lively, the production is so “dancey” that one could be forgiven for thinking it’s a modern ballet, which is why it was presented at Sadler’s Wells, a London dance venue, twice.

And it’s so well done that one would still understand the whole story even if the dialogue and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim’s original songs were cut.

The international cast, comprising mostly American actors, was up to the task in dancing and singing, and the tunes brought back fond memories of the Academy Award-winning film and the 2006 production. That’s thanks to the fact that they’ve been performing together in different Asian cities for many months. In terms of acting though, they were less convincing and at times somewhat robotic as if waiting for the next cue to sing and dance. And in the end, this modern interpretation of star-crossed lovers set in multicultural New York’s Upper West Side didn’t move me the way productions of “Romeo and Juliet” have. This is notwithstanding the fact that it was another reminder, considering the ongoing conflicts, that in the land where all men are created equal, not all men are treated equal.

American music director and conductor Donald Chan, a “West Side Story” veteran, and his associate John Yun worked with our Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and if the result of this small collaboration can be as pleasant as this, then the Festival should be able to bring in many international productions of musicals or ballets by saving the flight costs of the musicians.

It should also be noted that the performance here was supported by the US Embassy Bangkok who, with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, also organised the Conflict Resolution Workshop, a full-day programme for 40 students 16 to 25 years old concluding with free attendance at “West Side Story”. And that’s a deft way to create an add-on activity that makes sure that a Broadway musical is not just entertainment. Other embassies who take part in the festival might like to consider this.

I was too old to apply of course, but were I not I would have tweeted Mr POTUS to watch this musical and continue his relief support for Puerto Rico, the US territory from where the Sharks originated.

Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music is made possible through the kind support of Crown Property Bureau, Ministry of Culture, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, B Grimm Group, BMW, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Nation Group, PTT Group, Singha Corporation, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways International and Thai Union.

GRANDE FINALE

The last programme of “Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music” is the Stuttgart Ballet’s “Taming of the Shrew”, featuring the original choreography by the company’s founder John Cranko as well as elaborate set and costumes.

It’s on this Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm, at the Thailand Cultural Centre.

Tickets are from Bt 2,000 to |Bt 5,500 at ThaiTicketMajor.

Find out more at BangkokFestivals.com.

DESPITE MAKING numerous trips to the island state over the years, I have only stayed in two homes there, neither of which belonged to Singaporeans. Three years ago, as part of Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa), “Open Homes” took me to visit two condominium units in a northwestern district where owners shared their personal stories, with help from facilitating professional theatre artists. And so when I heard that “Open Homes” was back as part of this year’s Sifa, I made sure that my trip to the festival coincided with this latest episode.

The first programme, “Bak Serumpun Serai Yang Banyak Gunanya” (“Like the useful lemongrass cognates”), took me to visit a Housing and Development Board public housing estate in Clementi, owned by an elderly bachelor of Malay heritage Mohamad Mustain Bin Abdul Shukor. Outside in the hallway, he first showed us his plants, especially the lemongrass of which he’s most proud. Once inside, a collection of souvenirs he’s been collecting from his numerous trips, including many on a Japan-Asean friendship boat, spoke volumes about his personal history. In his kitchen, he showed us how he made lemongrass tea. But the highlight was his sewing room kitted out with antique sewing machines, inherited from his ancestors and still working, on which he makes traditional and modern clothes for himself and others. The programme ended with Malay snacks, desserts, salted eggs and of course lemongrass tea.

Three home-schooling mothers shared their passion for embroidery.

The afternoon programme titled “Tapestry of Love” took me to a small landed residence in Bukit Merah where three home-schooling mothers of different backgrounds – Tong May Yee, Evelyn Sam and Claire Lim – shared stories of how they got together. This was due to an interest in the art of embroidery, which has been passed down to them from the previous generations. They showed us simple daily objects, like blankets, that are filled with family history and which reflected the history of this young country. The third mother brought along her mother who’s originally from China and could only speak Mandarin. Admittedly, I have a very soft spot for kids and old people and so when their kids got up in the living room and sang a song that concluded their mothers’ stories, as melodramatic and predictable as they were, my eyes turned watery.

These performers in living-room theatres are not professionally trained, and yet thanks to their passion and sincerity in storytelling coupled with professional theatre artists’ guidance and Jeffrey Tan’s curation, their stories are worth our time and attention.

In his sewing room, Mohamas Mustain Bin Abdul Shukor shows us a historic wardrobe and what’s inside

And so,the notion of a multicultural and yet peaceful city state was also confirmed, though it must be remembered that its one political party recently won a landslide victory and that one needs to ask for permission before staging a demonstration. My Sunday morning and afternoon were indeed well spent, far away from where I might have been on a typical weekend, joining Singaporeans at shopping malls and looking for signs with the four-letter magic word “SALE”.

It’s noteworthy that Sifa is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and “Open Homes”, intentionally or not, hit all the three keywords spot-on. The way that in different countries culture pairs with different aspects of the government system is also interesting – some with tourism, others with sports. I recall when ours was to about be founded, it was suggested that religion should also be in the name.

But as we all know, what’s in a name? Much more significant is the fact that culture is a way of living, not merely national heritage or high-brow foreign arts that not many people can understand or appreciate.

And if it needs the cooperation of more than two ministries to make this happen, let our tax money make sure it that does.

The writer’s trip was supported by Arts House Limited. Special thanks to Tay Tong and Mervyn Quek

ON AND OFF STAGE

SIFA now has a new director Gaurav Kripalani, artistic director of Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT), who will be at the helm until 2020. Among his many exciting projects is “Monuments Series”, in which artists create site-specific works at some of the 72 buildings gazetted as national monuments.

Keep track at http://www.SIFA.sg.

OVER the past few weeks, art exhibitions have popped up all over town as Thais remember their beloved monarch, His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away on October 13, 2016.

One of the latest to open is “In Our Hearts” (“Nai Duang Jai”) at new gallery Yelo House, which brings together some 30 leading artists to share their precious memories of the late King through drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures, photography, motion pictures, and music. Speaking at the opening, national artist Naowarat Pongpaiboon urged Thais to “revise, revive and disseminate” the teachings and philosophy of His Majesty the late King before reading his handwritten poem in front of a large portrait created in soil of the late King by Sompop Budtarad entitled “Phra Chao Paen Din”.

“His Majesty’s great works and commitment throughout his life are just as he declared at his Coronation, ‘We shall reign with righteousness for the benefits and happiness of the Siamese people’. When he was here, we [the Thai people] were warm and safe. But now without him, we felt as if we are adrift. Why? Because of what he did throughout his reign. By embracing and continuing his teachings, we will not feel so alone,” he said.

Singer Thanachai “Pod Moderndog” Ujjin, Manop Suwanbinta and Yossanan “Sunture” Wuthikornsombatkul have all contributed paintings and these are displayed alongside photographs by veteran lensmen from Chamni’s Eye, including Oh Singhasuvich. He told XP he had always dreamt of taking pictures of the late King but had never managed to do so. For this exhibition, he was inspired by an old Chulalongkorn University publication featuring the portrait of King Bhumibol. He took photographs of this old image against a grey screen using Polaroid film, then rephotographed the result using a viewfinder.

Artist Channalong “Dee” Krugoied put pen to paper to draw an abundance of flowers and fruit in the shape of the Thai numeral nine. “This drawing represents the prosperity and improved quality of life in the country brought about by the late King in a form that is immediately associated with the Monarch,” he says.

Passionate about art and fashion, Sanon Tempiem created six images of Their Majesties the King and Queen during their youth, using hand-drawings and computer graphics to present them from a more fashionable angle. “The real photograph was unclear and small, so I tried to enlarge it and give it a different perspective using vintage colours,” he explains.

Akaradech Rungpunyajinda offers woodcuts inspired by the toys and collectible items of the late King.

“I am showing four woodcut series, which I created the night the King passed away. I’ve always loved the old style of toys especially bikes and cars and this is what I show here,” he says.

The second floor of the gallery is home to several remarkable pieces including Daeng Buasand’s “Maharaj” painting, an enlarged interpretation in oil on canvas of the old picture of the same name. The portrait shows the King in full dress uniform.

Graphic designer Wee Viraporn of Conscious Ltd has covered one wall with Post-It stickers bearing a portrait of the King in a work called “3,254 Reminders, 2017”. “I have been creating art with these stickers for a while. In everyday life, we use Post-Its to remind us of things and this work thus acts as a reminder of King Bhumibol’s graciousness. We selected a portrait of the King that would suit the pop-art style and the picture of him taking a photo is perfect, especially as it will encourage visitors to take their photo with the King,” says Wee.

Different strokes

The exhibition continues through October 27.

Yelo House is on Soi Kasemsan 1, an easy walk from BTS National Stadium exit 3.

Find out more at Facebook/yelohouse and Instagram.

The show, organised by Essilor Distribution (Thailand) and the Essilor Vision Foundation, pays tribute to His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej through 56 photographs depicting the life and contributions of the late Monarch, his royal gestures, his royal duties as well as images reflecting the loyalty of Thai people.

Participating photographers are Somsak Patanapitoon, Boonthachai Chaiviroonjaroen, Suraphol Sukhumtus, Wasinburi Supanichvoraparch, Kamthorn Paowattanasuk, Kiti Kittiphongsathaporn, Puttitorn Promduang, Sanchai Lungrung, Phalat Chaipitakkoon, Nakit Jaroonsrirak, Jiratha Narapittayanart, Alizz Vichchou, Vanthanee Apiwattanasawee and Wannapong Surarochprajak.

A commemorative book featuring the photos from the exhibition will be offered to Essilor customers buying one pair of its Progressive Varilux X Series. The first 300 visitors to the exhibition will be given a tote bag,

Find out more at http://www.Essilor.co.th.