Brand New 2009
March 13 – April 10, 2009
Brand New 2009
A forum for young artists and art critics
Press Conference & Artist Talk: March 13, 2009, at 16.00-18.00 hrs.
Opening Ceremony: March 13, 2009, at 18.00 hrs.
Participating artists:
Bussaraporn Thongchai, Duangkamol Sawangsin & Promboon Choonchuongchoti
Participating art critics:
Suriya Shaicharoen, Narongsak Nilkhet, Thanawat Kanpai, Parinee Insongnoen
Curator: Gridthiya Gaweewong
Assistant to curator: Mary Pansa-nga
About Brand New 2009:
Brand New Art Project was initiated by the Bangkok University Art Gallery in 2003. It has been organized for the sixth consecutive year with the kind cooperation from many contemporary art galleries in Bangkok. The Brand New Project aims to encourage new generation artists to express themselves and show their works through solo exhibitions with no compulsory themes. Brand New offers the first step for those young artists / critics who are committed and wish to pursue their careers as professional artists or art critics in the future. In addition, this project focuses on exchanging art enthusiasts and audiences among the collaborating galleries and nurturing a network of the contemporary art galleries in Bangkok.
In 2009 edition, we invited a guest curator, Mrs. Gridthiya Gaweewong, a Thai curator based in Bangkok to select not only young artists but art critics. Among 40 submitted proposals, five young and outstanding artists/ art projects and six art critics were selected to join the Brand New 2009. These young artists were recent graduates from local and international art universities. Most of them were born in the 1980s. Their works ranged from drawing, photography, video, interactive installation and collaborative project, and dealt with contemporary issues which related to their personal experiences, with daily lives in urban space and social conditions. They are differed in many levels from social illustration, commentary, critique and even recommendations to us.
About artworks and artists
Chulalongkorn University Art Centre features works by Duangkamol Sawangsin Promboon Choonchuangchoti and Busaraporn Thongchai. Their works dealt with their personal conditions and experience concerning their daily life and social conditions. Duangkamol Sawangsin, a young female artist who recently graduated from Bangkok University’s faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, works with a photography series entitled, “Insecure Emotional State”. She portrayed her insecure emotional state by creating an imagined urban landscape based on her manipulated photography. Inserting her own figure in an architectural structures, she posted woman with different gestures and combined them in her highly manipulated space photography which she altered, reduced, and then recreated a new reality.
Tension between gender, the sexes and power emerged as a main theme in Bussaraporn Thongchai’s drawing. A recent graduate from Silapakorn University’s faculty of Painting, sculpture and graphic arts, major in art theory, Thongchai works were an attempt to reach her own conclusion. She said, “I am curious about the human sex as much as I admire my own sex. I started to become curious and a little annoyed by the powers that decide our sex. In fact what decides our sex again and again until we really believe that it’s a normal and perfect thing? Even though I am curious about how society decides our sex, I found that I had already become a perfect creation, which is called female.”
Promboon Choonchuongchoti, a BFA candidate at faculty of Fine and applied arts, Bangkok University works with his frustration under the social norms and rules. He will show 3 pieces of video performance. “Smoking” is a video performance shows how smokers dealt with the new regulations of ‘no smoking in public space’ in an extreme way. He said in this statement, ‘Ever increasing regulations, make smoking to satisfy our needs in a public place not possible these days, we are not confident about places and it always stirs our conscious.” Similar to the previous work, ‘control’ that dealt with the state of tension arising from the communication between the controller and the controlled along with the prejudices and distrust. And his later piece, ‘experience’, about the state of distrust in situations and the lack of self confidence which happens because of the emotion.
About art critics
To create a new working experience for young artists and art critics, we pair them up together and provide an opportunity for critics to write about young artists works. Their articles will be published in the exhibition catalogues. They consisted of Suriya Shaicharoen Narongsak Nilkhet Lalinthorn Pencharoen, Paweena Auanomjit, from MFA program in Art Theory, Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silapakorn University and Thanawat Kanpai, Parinee Insongnoen, a BFA candidate from Faculty of Fine Arts, Srinakarinviroj Prasanmit University, and Bangkok.
Suriya Chayacharoen was born in Kanchanaburi. He received his BFA (2nd Honor) from Faculty of Painting Sculpture and Graphic Art, Silapakorn University. Currently he’s studying MFA in art theory at the same faculty. He’s working with Bussaraporn Thongchai for Brand new 2009.
Narongsak Nilkhet finished high school from Amnuay Silpa School, Bangkok. Due to his interest in art, culture and history, he decided to study for a bachelor’s degree at Silapakorn University, Faculty of Archaeology, majoring in Anthropology and Art history as a minor. He took classes in art and cultural management, and received a Diploma of Art and Cultural Management at Alliance Francaise, Bangkok. He then got a chance to work in management and coordination field at Aksra Theatre, including projects of fine art, film and design. Now he is pursuing his graduate study in Art Theory at Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silapakorn University. Narongsak working with Duangkamol Sawangsin’s project.
Parinee Insoongnoen was born in Bangkok in 1987. She’s a BFA candidate in Imaging Arts at Srinakharinwirot University. She first became interested in becoming an art critic in 3rd year when she was studying the subject ‘Writing in Art’. Although she studies in the visual art department she always remembered that art critic course and she thinks it will also improve her artwork. Now she loves to analyze and learn the artist’s concepts.
Thanawat Kanpai was born in1986 in Trat. He’s a BFA candidate in Visual Art-Ceramics from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Srinakharinwirot University. He’s interested in art critic from Writing in Art in his class. Both Parinee and Thanawat are working with Promboon’s video art.
This project is made possible by the Office of contemporary Art, Ministry of Culture, and Bangkok University, Thailand.
Special thanks to all artists who submitted proposals, and for those willing to pursue their careers as artists and critics.
Themocracy