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Our mutual friends are showcased at Art Café
Sue K
Where else would be more suitable to exhibit art than at the Art
Café? Besides offering a wide range of Mediterranean and Thai cuisine in
an impressive colonial style setting, Art Café is also a venue for
artists, both unknown and those more renowned, to exhibit their works to
the public.
 Two
water color artists from different cultures, Disapol Paengsiri, a native
of Thailand, and British-born Alan Kirkland-Roath, joined forces and
presented their distinctive and contrasting styles of work under the
theme “The Feeling’s Mutual”.
Recently two water color artists from different cultures, Disapol
Paengsiri, a native of Thailand, and British-born Alan Kirkland-Roath,
joined forces and presented their distinctive and contrasting styles of
work under the theme “The Feeling’s Mutual”.
Opening the ceremony was Peter Malhotra, managing director of Pattaya
Mail, who congratulated the artists for bringing the two cultures closer
together through art. He also thanked Jo Stetten, the proprietor of Art
Café for providing a venue within the Pattaya community for promoting
cultural awareness, and for Jo’s constant efforts to portray Pattaya as
a city with more to offer than is depicted through the common,
stereotypical ideas.
Following the introductions, Jo thanked all the guests for their
attendance and for their continued support, without which, he indicated
it would not have been possible to realize such cultural idealism in
this part of the world.
After the formalities and viewing of the art was over, a Mediterranean
buffet carefully prepared by Jo and his team was stylishly laid out for
all the guests. The dining atmosphere was cordial as those in attendance
discussed topics centering on art and culture.
The Feeling’s Mutual Art exhibition at Art Café will run daily from 3-10
p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends until April 9.
Water color artist Disapol
Paengsiri has a unique style.
Water color art on display
seems to invite you straight into the scene.
Jo thanked all the guests
for their continued support, without which, he indicated, it would not
have been possible to realize such cultural idealism in this part of the
world.
Two ways of looking at the human body are portrayed at Opium exhibition
Peter Nordhues
Gallery Opium has made it an ambition to get the arts scene in Pattaya
moving. As Alan Kirkland-Roath, managing director of the gallery and an
artist himself says, “We want to bring life into Pattaya’s art scene
with unconventional exhibitions. This includes not only the introduction
of Thai artists but rather the support of friendships and exchange of
thoughts of artists on an international level.”
Thailand’s Narakorn, shown
here describing his work, paints in a more conventional style.
Their first convincing step is the current exhibition
“Body Talks”, displaying works of the German painter Einhard Zang and
Thai artist Narakorn Sittites. Both are showing the human body in their
paintings, but each in their own distinctive way.
 German
painter Einhard Zang explains his artistic style.
Zang visited the gallery on the occasion of this exhibition himself, his
first ever visit to Thailand. He works as a freelance artist in Germany.
The main emphasis of his work is on mixing techniques such as collagen,
lithography, etching and, most of all, printing techniques using the
human body.
“Printing with the human body is a way of artistic expression that goes
back several thousand years, all the way to the Stone Age,” says Zang.
“In the cages of Altamira and Lascaux and in central Sahara, colorful
hand prints along with impressions of animals and hunting scenes give
evidence of early artistic achievements. If an artist depicts a portrait
or creates an image, a statue of someone, the model would be on one side
and the designed piece of art, the result, on the other side.
 Einhard
Zang creates a work of art.
“Model and image are separate and only connected by the artistic
mediation. In my body prints, these relationships are altered. Model and
artist are taking part in the same way and the human is always center of
the work. With body prints I can give priority to the experimental
aspects of the work. I can give shape to the prints, I can use collagen
or apply other designing techniques.”
He illustrated his words with a live demonstration. The model is “dyed”
and the color clinging to the body prints on the canvas. Parts are
painted over, covered, cut or taken out. In working with the initial
body print, individuality and personality of the model play a big role.
Everyone is suitable as a model and Zang also does prints on demand.
Thailand’s Narakorn paints in a more conventional style. He describes
himself as a figurative artist: “I am deeply rooted in the Buddhist
philosophy of suffering and its causes. I portray life under
circumstances of betrayal and ignorance. Immorality and passion often
confuse human minds.”
The message reaches the viewer. His artworks are in muted colors and
exude a certain melancholy. Narakorn, though, leaves the beaten tracks
of Thai art; his creations lack the usual religious allegories, although
he is still strongly connected to the Thai tradition of painting.
Gallery Opium, 315/26 Thepprasit Road M12 (opp Gubai Art Gallery), tel
038 303 040. Contact: Alan Kirkland-Roath, email: info@galleryo
pium.com, www.galleryo pium.com
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