HIS MAGNIFICENT Phra Merumas, the royal crematorium, is almost complete but artist Kokiart Thongphud is not counting the days until it comes into use.

“While I know that this is the most magnificent and majestic structure I have ever designed, I am neither glad nor proud to see it become a reality. My heart is crying and I don’t want October 26 to come – the day when I will send my beloved King back to heaven,” says the 49-year-old artist with the Fine Arts Department, who started work on designing the crematorium only hours after His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on October 13 last year.

The royal crematorium of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej is almost complete. 

Like all Thais, Kokiart did not let his grief and suffering keep him from his work. The elaborate royal crematorium for King Bhumibol is the tallest of any such structures since the reign of King Rama V.

“My respected master Prince Naris – Prince Narisara Nuvadtivongs, considered the great master of Siamese art – once said that the highest and widest structure of Phra Merumas signified the greatest dignity. My first design had the structure standing 80 metres high on a 120-metre-wide base, but it was too large for Sanam Luang as it is today. I eventually had to settle on a practical structure 55.18 metres high and 60 metres wide,” says Kokiart, who was the right-hand man of the celebrated late architect Arwut Ngernchuklin, designer of the royal crematoria for HRH the Princess Mother, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana and Princess Bejaratana Rajasuda in 1996, 2008 and 2012 respectively.

This sketch of the royal crematorium of the beloved monarch was prepared by Kokiart Thongphud on the night of his passing, a year ago today.

Kokiart prepared five draft designs of the royal crematorium in the busabok style in line with the structures sketched by the old masters since the reign of King Rama V. These showed elaborate pavilions with ornately decorated tiered roofs topped by one, five and nine spires respectively. The five drafts along with other artists’ sketches were presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the president of the Royal Funeral Committee, and the Princess selected his design featuring nine pavilions, each standing independently of the others.

The royal crematorium comprises nine busabok-style pavilions sitting on a three-tiered, square shaped base with a staircase on each of the four sides. On the topmost tier is the seven-tiered, spire-roofed principle pavilion, which will house the royal urn, while each of the four corners on the second tier have five-tiered, roofed pavilions called sang, which will be used by monks to chant scriptures during the ceremony. The remaining four pavilions are located at each of the four corners on the first tier.

Kokiart also marks the centre of the royal crematorium from where two axes intersect – one from the spire of the Phra Si Ratana Chedi pagoda in the adjacent Wat Phra Kaew and the other from the middle of the phra ubosot or ordination hall in the nearby Wat Maha That.

The structure is in three key colours of gold, white and grey. Gold doesn’t just symbolise kingship, but is also used as a substitute for yellow – the colour of Monday, the day on which the King was born. White represents both purity and righteousness and grey – a shade known as “dove-grey” – is the shade King Bhumibol chose for the structure of the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine and the roof of Wat Praram Kao Chalerm Phrakiat, built at his initiative.

Kokiart Thongphud

“There is very little difference in the design shown in the first draft, which was completed on the night the beloved Monarch passed away, and the structure that is nearly complete,” says Teerachat Virayuttanond, an architect with the Fine Arts Department, who translated Kokiart’s hand-written sketches for the computer-aided design program and also helped with designing the architectural landscape of the supplementary structures in the ceremonial ground.

Unlike the previous royal crematoria that were mainly made from wood, new construction technologies in the computer age have allowed the Phra Merumas structure to be built with pre-fabricated steel. These have been produced away from the funeral ground then transported to Sanam Luang for assembly. The inner steel structures are covered with wood that’s intricately decorated with an elaborate design. It can accommodate more than 7,000 people.

“Without the references of the old masters like Prince Naris, Phra Phrombhichitr, Ajarn Praves Limparangsi and Ajarn Arwut, I probably wouldn’t have been able to complete this task,” says Kokiart who was among the speakers in a recent talk “Phra Merumas of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej” at Silpakorn University, held as part of the exhibition “Phra Merumas of the Rattanakosin Period”.

As the royal crematorium symbolises Mount Sumeru, the centre of the universe, to where the late King will return, the base is decorated with auspicious animals and mythical creatures to represent the Anodard pond in the heavenly Himmaphan Forest. 

“Ajarn Arwut always taught me that in design, we must first think who we are designing for and the end user. I therefore tried to translate the late Monarch’s greatest contributions to the country into a magnificent visual structure while ensuring it was functional for those coming to bid a final farewell to their beloved King.”

The works of the masters referred to by Kokiart can be seen in the exhibition that continues until October 31. Visitors will be able to admire reproductions of the architectural designs of the royal crematoria built for King Rama VI by Prince Naris, for King Rama VIII by Phra Phrombhichitr, for Queen Rambai Barni – Queen consort of Rama VII – by Praves, and for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana by Arwut.

Thai architectural students of Silpakorn University create a model of the royal crematorium of King Rama VI that follows the design of Prince Narisara Nuvadtivongs.

Silpakorn University’s architecture students have added to the grandeur of the exhibition by building models of the royal crematoria of King Rama VI, Queen Rambai Barni and Princess Galyani Vadhana.

Based on the original design by Arwut Ngernchuklin, a model of the royal crematorium of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana is created by Silpakorn University students.

“The monarch is highly revered as a divine king, a tradition influenced by Hinduism and Buddhist beliefs. Therefore, the royal crematorium hall must be a grand and imposing building designed to ascend to heaven – a symbolic representation of Mount Meru, which is the centre of the universe in Buddhist cosmology.

An old photo shows the grandeur of the royal wood crematorium of King Rama IV in prang (Khmer-style tower) style and was taller than the central prang of Wat Arun.

“During the early Rattankosin era, no crematorium was grander, taller and larger than that of King Rama IV whose crematorium hall reached a height of more than 80 metres, making it taller than the central prang (Khmer-style tower) of Wat Arun,” says Patsaweesiri Preamkulanan of Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Archaeology.

King Rama V, however, considered that the massive size of the royal crematorium required tons of wood and wasted both manpower and money and ordered that his own crematorium be scaled down so that it fitted better with Siam’s opening to the world.

King Rama V scaled down the size of his royal crematorium, which was designed in busabok style and became the model for the crematoria of his successors. 

“Instead of the usual prang-style pavilions, King Rama V’s royal crematorium was done in shape of |busabok and served as a model for later Kings.

“Though the late King Bhumibol’s funeral brings great sadness to the entire nation, it’s a rare occasion for all of us to witness a revival of Thai traditional arts and architecture and thus be able to pass that knowledge on to the next generation,” says Patsaweesiri.

Splendours of the past

The exhibition “Phra Merumas of the Rattanakosin Period” continues until October 31 at Silpakorn University’s Wang Tha Pra campus. Call (02) 623 6115-21 or visit http://www.Su.ac.th.

Learn more about King Bhumibol’s royal crematorium and the cremation ceremony at http://www.KingRama9.th.

The figures, who project an air of innocence and a pollyanish sense of contentment, look to be in the midst of living happy and prosperous lives, but there is something amiss lying just underneath the surface of the paintings. The most easily distinguishable signal is given in the form of the twisted branches of the peach blossom trees featured in many of the paintings. They are in full bloom, which brings associations of spring and renewal, but the unnatural positions of the branches suggest a conscious contortion that has distorted what was once beautiful and pure.

Tam chooses to use Dong Ho folk paintings in the background of many of his works as an overarching symbolic representation of traditional Vietnamese culture. The traditional themes of these paintings include good luck signs, historical figures, folk allegories and popular stories. The compositions tend to reflect the lifestyles and concerns of a rural people living in close commune with nature. Most commonly associated with Tet, Dong Ho paintings have long been used in Vietnam by craftspeople to express their concerns about social, political and cultural issues. As a metaphor for cultural loss, Tam’s choice of these paintings is an apt one. Once produced by hundreds of craftspeople in a number of villages of Northern Vietnam, the practice has all but died out.

While Tam’s is an essentially conservative vision, his work should not be viewed as an indictment of Western culture, which he calls “civilised, progressive and compelling.” Rather, the artist is disturbed by the less positive side effects of Vietnam’s modernisation including the rampant consumerism and narcissism the process has engendered.

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

THE WHOLE world will have its eyes trained on Thailand on October 26 as the country pays a final farewell to His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a ceremony that can trace its roots back to the Ayutthaya era.

As tradition demands, the Royal Cremation will be held on the open field known as Sanam Luang to the north of the Grand Palace, which has served as the royal cremation ground since the founding of Bangkok on April 21, 1782. The event will not only stun international viewers with its splendour but make its own mark on history with the grandest royal crematorium ever constructed, solemn ceremonies as well as public performances designed to pay a final tribute and farewell to the former monarch and accompany his soul to heaven.

About 3,000 artists will take part in public performances portraying the greatness of the monarch in front of the crematorium and on three stages on the North side from 6pm on cremation day until 6am the next day and signal the end of the official mourning period.

“The traditions disappeared after the reign of the King Rama VI but were revived during the reign of King Rama IX. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn ordered that the tradition of all public performances be preserved for the Royal Cremation. These traditions first reappeared during the royal cremation of the Princess Mother in 1996,” says drama expert Chaovalit Soonpranon, chairman of the performance committee for the Royal Cremation.

In the Rattanakosin period, public performances took place for the first time during the Royal Cremation of Somdet Phra Pathom Borommahachanok, the father of King Rama I, in 1796. They were discontinued in the reign of King Rama VI for the Royal Cremation of King Rama V, according to the government website, Rama9.net.

Records show that public performances for the occasion have included the khon masked drama, apuppetry, shadow plays, Chinese opera, Mon dances, thep thong dances, stunt shows and acrobatics. For this occasion, the government is not only sticking to tradition but also adding more unique performances as the country honours the late Monarch’s artistic talents.

“In order to preserve our rich culture, Princess Sirindhorn this time ordered the Culture Ministry to revive all our artistic traditions to honour the late King as the Supreme Artist. His literature is being adapted into traditional Thai dance and modern ballet, while live orchestras will again play his compositions,” Chaovalit explains.

The most significant of these unique arts include the revival of the centuries-old royal puppet performance, the grandest outdoor khon mask dance, a neo-classical ballet based on the King’s musical compositions and traditional dance based on the King’s literature.

There will also be a special khon performance of the Ramayana epic at the ceremonial ground in front of the Royal Crematorium and the Songtham pavilion. His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn, Princess Sirindhorn and other Royal Family members will witness the historic performance up close.

More than 300 dancers will stage the “Phra Ram Crosses Over the Ocean” and “At the Battlefield” episodes of the ancient epic and wrap their performance with the “Blessing Dance” in a tribute to the late King’s dedication to the country.

Dozens of live music, puppet shows and dances will be performed on the three stages set up at the northern end of Sanam Luang.

The highlight is the royal puppet performance, which will take place at the side nearest the Supreme Court. The puppets will be performing for the public for the first time in 150 years, since the reign of King Rama IV. The newly made puppets, created using ancient methods by artisans at the Fine Arts Department, will proudly showcase a tradition that was first performed during royal cremations in the Ayutthaya period.

The Fine Arts Department, with the help of young puppet expert Kamol Karnkitcharoen, has played an important role in reviving the art form.

“Work on recreating the four main characters – Phra (actor), Nang (actress), Yak (demon) and Ling (monkey) actually started last year in the hope that we would be able to perform in front of King Bhumibol. Unfortunately, he passed away before we had a chance to do so,” Kamol says

“This show will be the first public performance since the preservation process was completed. We are grateful to be able to revive this almost extinct heritage and perform to pay our greatest respects and honour to our beloved King Bhumibol who preserved our arts and culture throughout his life. This will preserve our heritage for the next generation too,” says the 40-year-old puppet master.

The performance, which is based on the Ramayana, will see three traditional khon dramatists manipulate the synchronised dancing of the five-metre-tall wooden puppets with 20 strings during a 20-minute prelude. The puppeteers and their assistants are hidden behind the moveable stage and all the audience can see are the puppets dressed in beautiful costumes as they dance.

This will be followed by the telling of Sunthon Phu’s romantic epic “Phra Abhai Manee with hun khrabok (hand-manipulated small puppets).

Breaking the tradition of the royal puppet show being performed only by men in the court, Ancharika Noosingha, 43, is the first Thai woman to preserve this art form.

“As they are heavy with complex strings, the puppeteer must be able to skilfully manipulate the puppets in synchronising the dance movements. When I perform, I become the puppet,” says Ancharika, who has been training hard over the last few months.

“We are grateful to be given this rare performance to deliver the soul of our beloved monarch to the heavens,” adds Pairoj Thongkumsuk, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

A theatrical adaptation of the Monarch’s popular literary work “Mahajanaka” will also be staged as well as the “Gold and Silver Flower” Thai classical dance, the classical court drama (Lakhon Nai) telling the story of Inao, a legendary prince in East Java, and a play based on the supernatural kinnaree (half-bird and half-human) princess called Manorah.

A live orchestra made up of almost 1,000 musicians, singers and choral singers will present a classical music concert entitled “Tha Keu Doungjai Thai Tua La” (“His Majesty is in the hearts of all Thais of the Land”) featuring the music composed by the late King as well as songs written to honour him on the stage in front of Thammasat University.

This too is the venue for the highly anticipated ballet “Manorah” based on the late king’s 1961 composition of the same name.

Leading choreographer Suteesak Pakdeedeva has given the one-act ballet a neo-classic style and auditioned the best ballet principals from all over the country for this special show. The 29-minute-ballet will performed by 99 dancers to the sound of music performed by 89 members of the orchestra and 89 choral singers.The number is based on the age of the King when he died.

“The Royal Ballet Manorah is recognised as an East-meets-West masterpiece. Our king was very talented, effortlessly blending the classical dance ‘Phra Suthon-Manorah’’ a play from Thailand’s south with modern ballet. He composed the “Kinnaree Suite” featuring five tunes, namely the ‘Nature Waltz’, ‘The Hunter’, the ‘Kinnaee Waltz’, ‘A Love Story’ and ‘Blue Day’,” Suteesak says.

The King then ordered Khunyiing Genevieve Damon, a French ballerina married to an American diplomat, to choreograph his ballet, while Pierre Balmain designed the extravagant costumes for the main characters. It was staged at Suan Amporn near the King’s Rama V statue in 1962 and has since been restaged on special occasions. Suteesak, 58, performed a cameo in the ballet more than a decade ago.

“The new performance will bring a contemporary look to the show. The audiences will see marigolds, the King’s flower, and the vetiver grass he used to protect the land from flooding and drought. The dancers will be dressed in outfits designed by Tube Gallery, which blend the modern with classic Thai costumes,” he adds.

The stage, which is at the northern end of Sanam Luang, will also present a shadow puppet show and a khon performance by artists from the Office of Performing Arts, along with teachers and students from 12 Colleges of Dramatic Arts and the Bunditphatthanasilpa Institute. Other khon performances of episodes from the Ramayana organised by the Foundation of the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques under royal patronage will also be staged.

This year, the royal khon troupe will for the first time perform for two hours on an outdoor stage in the northern part of Sanam Luang. The performance is a type of khon chak, meaning it is performed in a theatre with the elegantly painted backdrops changing as the story proceeds. It will feature about 1,400 performers and crew.

The exhibition will feature more than 400 portraits and sculptures of the beloved Monarch by National Artists the late Sawasdi Tantisuk, Pratuang Emjaroen, Tawee Rujaneekorn, Preecha Thaothong, Vichok Mukdamni and Chuang Munphinit as well as Jitsing Somboon, Chatchawan Rodklongtan, Chusak Wisanukamron, Thanom Chantakruea, Tawee Kesangam, Sanan Rattana and Prateep Kochabua.

The event also features a series of special works on the theme “Painting Number 9” created by Tawee Rujaneekorn, Vichok Mukdamni, Chuang Munphinit, Sakwut Wisesmanee, Prateep Kochabua, and Prasong Luemuang. They will be on sale at Bt9,000 apiece.

Some of the paintings on display will also be reproduced on paper and canvas. The limited edition of 99 pieces on paper will go on sale for Bt999 apiece while the limited edition of 19 reproductions on canvas will go for Bt6,999. All proceeds will be used to purchase medical equipment for Siriraj Hospital’s Navamindrapobitr 84th Anniversary Building.

The official opening will take place tomorrow at 4.30pm at the Fountain Court on the Ground Floor of Seacon Square Shopping Centre on Srinakarin Road.

Dating from around 1500, “Salvator Mundi” — which depicts Jesus Christ as the world’s savior — was long believed to be a copy of an original by the Italian master, until it was eventually certified as authentic.

Fewer than 20 works by Da Vinci, whose art was already highly sought after during his lifetime, have survived to this day — all of them held in museum or institutional collections, with the exception of “Salvator Mundi.”

As a general rule, very few pre-19th-century artworks remain in private ownership, and it is extremely rare for one of them to be offered at auction.

“For auction specialists, this is pretty much the Holy Grail, no pun intended, but it doesn’t really get better than that,” said Loic Gouzer, co-chairman of Christie’s Americas post-war and contemporary art department.

A third party guarantee has been arranged for the painting, which ensures it will sell for around the estimate of $100 million on November 15, said Francois de Poortere, head of the Christie’s old masters department in New York.

The work will travel to Hong Kong, San Francisco and London, before spending three days on display in New York leading up to the sale.

According to Poortere, “Salvator Mundi” — which measures 45×65 cm (26×18 inches) — was last sold to an unnamed European collector following a historic Da Vinci exhibition at London’s National Gallery in 2011-12.

Mining a common theme, next month’s auction will begin with the sale of the massive “Sixty Last Suppers” by pop artist Andy Warhol — which depicts Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” 60 times over, and is offered with a $50 million estimate

THE LIVE and ephemeral nature of theatre means that no matter how hard the actors attempt to repeat their performance on different evenings, one will always different from the others. And as the artists and the audience share the space and time, whatever one does affect the other.

In my three decades of theatergoing, I have experienced a number of “magic moments” and their effects last a long time afterwards – as does my memory of them. Thanks to Japanese-Thai actor-playwright-director Shogo Tanikawa’s “No Moon Night No Moon Day 2017”, which ended its run at Blue Box Studio last weekend, another has just been added to this list.

The director (Thanee Poonsuwan, right) discusses how theatre works with his struggling actor (Shogo Tanikawa, left).PHOTO: NAPHATRAPEE SUNTORNTIRNAN

The date was October 13, 2016, in the early evening. A new play was about to premiere, news arrived via smartphones and the director had to cancel the performance. An actor stood up and started singing the royal anthem – and the surtitle read exactly so – and the other three actors and the director joined him.

My theatregoing companion suddenly turned to me, whispering, “Should we stand up?” And as our legs were moving, we saw two audience members in the second row already up. The house lights were not up, to prompt our participation, but all members of the audience that Saturday afternoon stood. It was a special moment more memorable than peculiar as it connected with our lives.

Three evenings later, I was attending the German Unity Day reception organised by the German embassy. Before the speech by the German ambassador, a minute of silence was called in remembrance of our late King and was followed by a choir’s singing of our royal anthem and the German national anthem.

Kanokwan Intharaphat was the most subtle and the most effective.

The “No Moon Night No Moon Day 2017” effect was still strong and the singing exceptional: I found myself listening to and interpreting each word very carefully, as if I had never heard our royal anthem before. In recent years, I’ve heard people question why at such an event our royal anthem has replaced our national one. Also, I’ve witnessed more and more Thai people not standing up for the royal anthem in the cinema and more theatre performances without the royal anthem, all for various personal, artistic and political reasons. In this regard and in a country governed by a constitutional monarchy, “No Moon Night No Moon Day 2017” was clearly the opposite.

Actress (Nithiwadi Tanngamtrong) made special somtum for her director and fellow actors before the play.

That said, the two-hour-and-20-minute play, heartfelt as it was, could have been much shorter, had the director found time to vary its pace and tighten some pauses, which were more abundant than necessary and led to occasional boredom. That’s easier said than done, though, as his character was onstage almost the entire time, and to solve this Tanikawa might have had to ask another director to stage it. This director would also be able to help hone the acting styles to better fit this intimate theatre studio, with actor Kanokwan Intharaphat being more natural than the others ?.

Tanikawa’s signatures in playwriting and directing remained intact here. They ranged from placing emphasis on the surtitle screen making sure that the various nationalities in the audience could understand and enjoy his play in Thai, English and Japanese and that his character faced upstage in silence for a while to that his heavily accented Thai could be mocked by other characters. In another touching moment that was not at all political, this play, like his previous ones, was also partly auto-biographical as his character wasn’t ready to declare his love for a younger actress although he looked very ready.

Stages will go dark in the next few weeks out of respect for the late King and the government’s curb on entertainment, though the “tourist shows” are still on, business as usual. That doesn’t mean Thai theatre artists will stop working, though: the year’s biggest event will start exactly one week after the royal cremation.

A MAJOR FEST COMING SOON

“Bangkok Theatre Festival 2017: Sharing Moments” is from November 2 to 19 at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts, Democrazy Theatre Studio and a few other venues.

A more international part, the inaugural “Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM)” is from November 14 to 18.

For more details and tickets, visit http://www.BangkokTheatreFestival.com

MANY OF us still recall our favourite bedtime story not to mention our favourite storyteller, usually mum or dad. And even though we knew the story off by heart, we would ask for it every night. Once we grew up, though, we had no interest in hearing the story, at least in its children’s book form, so why is it that Thai TV and stage musical producers still think otherwise?

“La Belle et la Bete”, or “Beauty and the Beast”, is not only a tale as old as time, but as French as it could be, even though here in Thailand, we’re much more familiar with Disney’s animated film, stage musical and this year’s live action remake. Malandain Ballet Biarritz’s contemporary ballet “La Belle et la Bete”, staged last Monday, not only retold the tale, challenging our minds rather than touching our hearts, but also reclaimed it.

French choreographer Thierry Malandain had a lot of fun creating this work, but any audience member who failed to pay the Bt150 for a programme to read his foreword, synopsis and the list of Tchaikovsky’s compositions he chose for this work, would probably have been lost for a while.

While a narrative ballet, this exceptional work didn’t focus on telling the story, but instead concentrated on the duality of, and the thin line between, virtue and vice and that of soul and instincts, even though that also meant sacrificing its romantic values. Fittingly, Jorge Gallardo’s arresting set and costume designs, elegant and grand without being extravagant, chose only black, white, grey and gold, while details in patterns and textures clearly defined characters.

Three dancers who reappeared between scenes were like moderators and held frequent conversation with the audience with their dance movements.

Pne member of the trio, perhaps also a stage manager/narrotor, was meticulously drawing back curtains, through which characters sometimes slid, at different parts of the stage to show what he –or actually the choreographer Malandain –wanted to show us. This kept us curious and at the same time fully aware that this was one interpretation, among many possible others, of the tale.

“I thought it would be just another [Disney] ‘Beauty and the Beast’,” an audience member who seemed totally enthralled told me. “But, well, when it’s also part of the French embassy’s ongoing ‘French Highlights’, our expectations are always higher as we know they’ll always find a way to surprise us.”

And on that note, and considering that we’ve seen a considerable number of innovative reinterpretations of familiar tales –“Snow White”, “Cinderella” and “Romeo and Juliet” among the festival’s favourites in three consecutive years – by Malandain and Angelin Preljocaj, maybe it’s time to break away from this formula and to further develop the audience by pushing the envelope.

The genre of “nouveau cirque”, or modern circus, has significantly progressed, far beyond merely acrobatic skills, in the past decade and with its interdisciplinary collaboration with other performing arts genres, it has found a new home in dance and theatre festivals worldwide but not yet here.

Two highly acclaimed and globetrotting works, namely Compagnie XY’s “Il n’est pas encore minuit” (“It’s not yet midnight”) and Compagnie Yoann Bourgeois’s “Celui qui tombe” (“He Who Falls”), spring to mind.

The 19th Bangkok’s 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.

CLASSICAL CLOSERS

“Bangkok’s 19th International Festival of Dance and Music” continues to October 19, at Thailand Cultural Centre’s Main Hall.

This Saturday is a concert by Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, featuring works by Liszt, Grieg and Brahms.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, thanks to the German embassy, Stuttgart Ballet make a much-awaited return to Bangkok with John Cranko’s grand version of “Taming of the Shrew” and bring the 19th festival’s curtain down.

Tickets are from Bt1,000 to Bt5,500, at ThaiTicketMajor.

Find out more at http://www.BangkokFestivals.com or join the conversation at Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music’s Facebook page.

HE IS KNOWN as the master of shade, and now 21st-century technology is shedding new light on the creative process behind Caravaggio’s groundbreaking painting.

“Inside Caravaggio”, an exhibition that opened Friday at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, unites 20 of the Renaissance giant’s most important works with X-ray and infrared images of them that offer visitors revealing insights into how he went about creating them.

The multimedia displays offer contemporary fans of the father of modern painting a glimpse into his idiosyncratic technique, the points at which he changed his mind and the modifications and adjustments he made to some of his most famous works.

Works have been loaned from a string of top Italian and international museums, including the Metropolitan in New York, which has released “Sacred Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (1604-1605)” and “Salome with the head of John the Baptist (1607 or 1610)”.

Other highlights include “St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy” (c.1597), borrowed from the National Gallery in London.

“It is a special exhibition,” says curator Rossella Vodret. “He was a fascinating figure who never ceases to surprise us.

“Apart from offering 20 Caravaggios, which is an exceptional figure for this artist, the displays allow you to get inside his head, to relive his creative process.” In a portrait of St John the Baptist that is on loan from the Palazzo Corsini in Rome, the biblical figure is sitting and turning towards his right.

“It was not understood why he was in this position but with radiographic imaging we discovered that he was in fact turning towards a lamb, which is his iconic symbol but which the artist decided to paint over in the end,” Vodret says.

In “St Jerome in Meditation,” which usually resides in a museum at the Montserrat Monastery in Barcelona, the right leg of the elderly man was initially more exposed but finally covered up with a blanket.

The exhibition also offers a new perspective on Caravaggio’s years in Rome, based on new research that dates the Milan-born artist’s arrival in the city to 1596, four years later than previously thought.

“That means that the production of works thought to have taken eight years, were actually completed in four, and also that there is a a gap of four years, which he probably spent in prison after killing a man in Milan,” said Vodret.

Caravaggio was forced to flee Rome in 1610 after killing another man in a brawl and is thought to have died in Tuscany four years later, aged just 38.

 Talented instructors will be on hand to hold 20 free introductory workshops offering Bangkok residents and visitors the chance to get their hands messy and explore the wide array of programmes. In addition, to commemorate the passing of the late King, visitors are invited to work on a collaborative mural that will slowly reveal an image of the Late King’s face as planned by young artists.

The daylong event is open to all and will showcase all the school has to offer at its new premises, a location that encourages creativity. Conveniently located, and with the added joy of Bakers Gonna Bake Café located directly below, the School gives off the feeling that you are just at home expressing your ‘Art – tivity’.

For more information or to arrange a visit, email ParonSchoolofArt@gmail.com, call (089) 795 8765 or visit Facebook/ParonSchoolofArt and www.ParonSchoolofArt.com.

“From Tides to Heaven” shows at Jewel Zone on M floor until October 29 and features an abundance of dok dao reung (marigolds) in full bloom arranged in different forms as a tribute to the late monarch. The marigolds are yellow, the colour symbolising the late King, and are formed in the shape of number nine in Thai script by celebrated artist Chuang Mulpinit.

Other forms include s white umbrella – a symbol of greatest prestige, a white elephant  a sign of great merit and glory, and a rabbit symbolising the year of birth of the late monarch. From October 27 to 30, the public is allowed to take home a marigold plant for free.

From October 11 to 22 at its Lifestyle Hall on the second floor, noted artist Thavorn Koudomvit will present “Prostration” for which he combines graphic art and painting techniques to portray his appreciation of His Majesty’s immeasurable royal grace. In the exhibition, national artist Naowarat Pongpaiboon also shares 50 chapters of his valuable poetry work “Virtues of the Kings” which was inspired by the late King’s greatest contribution to the country.

The last in the series is a photo exhibition “Forever in Our Hearts” from October 16 to 27 at the Hall of Fame. The portraits of the late monarch captured by more than 100 photographers including Rachot Visalarnkul, Wason Wanichakorn and Chiranan Pitpreecha will be on display.

Also included in the exhibition is the exquisite handwoven Persian art carpet bearing the image of King Bhumibol, which took Iranian master Hossein Bordbar almost a year to complete. The nation’s outpouring of grief and utmost loyalty he witnessed during the passing of the King in October last year inspired him to create this masterpiece.