Temporary Insanity |
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temporary insanity is the Art Center at Jim Thompson House’s first exhibition of contemporary art featuring recent works by Pinaree Sanpitak. The artist, inspired by natural forms, the female body and textile bridges the gap between the traditional and the world today. Pinaree’s works explore the thin line between art and craft. They redefine the potential of textile to be used in more abstract and challenging ways, thus expanding boundaries into contemporary art forms. This exhibition features three major works, breast stupas (2000-2001), unthreaded silk, vessels, (2003), cast brass with gold leaves inlay and a new interactive soft sculpture piece, temporary insanity, (2003-2004), soft sculptures with motors, timers and sound detected devices. Pinaree Sanpitak was born in Bangkok in 1961. She started her artistic career since 1989 after graduating in Visual Arts and Communication Design from the School of Fine Arts and Design, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. In the past, Pinaree has worked with various mediums: drawings, ceramics, sculptures, paintings and fibre, to create abstract shapes and forms of the female body that boldly reflect her feminine desire, sensuality, and sensibility. She has had solo exhibitions in Thailand, Singapore, Japan and U.S.A.; Her works were exhibited in major international art exhibitions including The 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, 1999 ; Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, 2002 . Currently Pinaree lives and works in Bangkok. This exhibition is made possible by the James H.W. Thompson Foundation & The Thai Silk Company temporary
insanity, 2003-2004 Pinaree’s recent works have more added flavors. They are not merely an object (of desire and with desire) but are imbued with their own emotions. temporary insanity defines a shift from more formal sculpture to interactive soft sculptural work. Using silks to create a blurred form, she arrives at an image that falls somewhere between breast and ball. She hides sound detection devices hidden inside her sculpture which allows the audiences’ voices to activate them. Gradually, reacting to the sounds made by the viewer, her soft sensual forms begin to move, undulate and becoming active: no longer a passive object but something with a life of their own. temporary insanity creates bodily spaces for people to enter. Interaction has been extended, not only by permitting the viewer to enter into the space of her work, but to also by having her work react to the viewer through sound. Audience interaction through laughter, voices, shouting or simply talking to each other creates a curious effect. In Thai such a condition is referred to with the saying ‘og san kwang kwaen’ or ‘shaky heart and soul’. The implied meaning is that of one being in shock and out of control. Pinaree herself has experienced and been influenced by emotions that affect her gender through the natural process of aging. A woman entering the second half of her life, she encounters physical changes and emotional turbulence. As such, the work presented by Pinaree successfully reveals her true self with frank, self-critical honesty. vessels 2003
Pinaree works alternatively between 2 and 3 dimension forms. She has created sculptural works with papier-mache, saa (paper mulberry) fibre, terracotta, wax and started to work with cast metal in the year 2000. vessels are cast brass sculptures lined with gold leaves. They were originally planned as a site-specific project to be installed on the deck of ARTSHIP in the port of Oakland, California, (a passenger/ cargo ship turned into an art center, unfortunately now closed). The ‘vessel’ is one of Pinaree’s personal icon, a metaphor of her body as an ‘open body/vessel’, an abstract object capable of giving with/ or without condition to the world. breast stupa2000-2001 unthreaded
silk,
Pinaree had been interested in working with fibre since 1994 and textiles since 1998. In Breast Works/ Untitled (1994), she used saa (paper mulberry) fiber to create soft sculptures based on breast forms. Later in the Womanly Abstract series (1998), Pinaree incorporated her grandfather’s textile which she found in her painting Womanly Temper, (1998). Choosing to work with silk in breast stupas and temporary insanity, Pinaree deals with the idea of the sacred and the profane. Her iconic presentation of a breast as a stupa was a major challenge to the male dominant Buddhist regulations. Pinaree dared to compare female body parts to the stupa confronting the taboo subject of the traditional position of women in religion. The banners of silk in breast stupas reflect a mood of celebration yet also left a meditative ambience for the audience. They welcome the audience, enticing them to walk through and explore. It is an important gesture for the artist; to allow people to come inside her own body/ space and investigate them generously. Special
events : 2.
Children workshop by Sarah Bond and Pinaree Sanpitak This workshop is part of an educational program organized in conjuction with an art exhbition, temporary insanity by Pinaree Sanpitak. Sarah Bond conducted the morning session with students from international schools in Bangkok area. Pinaree Sanpitak and Project 304 team faciliated an afternoon session with 15 children (7 - 12 years old) from Ban Krau, a muslim community, opposite of Jim Thompson House.
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