Sculptured Vol. 1

Sculptured Vol. 1
24 Jun – 23 Jul 2017

Sculptured Vol. 1 features five artists from Thailand and Myanmar: Thanet Awsinsiri, Utai Nopsiri, Pinaree Sanpitak, Thasnai Sethaseree and Soe Yu Nwe.

Exploring the lines between sculpture, installation, object and painting, the exhibition calls together three-dimensional works from a selection of artists that work within diverse methods and materials, who employ and revise conventional modes of making to address their unique concerns. Sculptured Vol. 1 traverses a cross-section of practices from varied backgrounds, to present an insightful examination of the medium of sculpture today.

Thanet Awsinsiri (b. 1960, Thailand) is known for his surreal paintings that depict the female nude. Based on images of hollow, bronze sculptures, Awsinsiri’s works challenge ideas on how sculptures and three-dimensionality are presented and consumed. He believes that the human body is the center of livelihood, inviting viewers to see in the several points of view by being open-minded. Awsinsiri has exhibited extensively in Thailand and Southeast Asia, including shows at the National Art Gallery (Malaysia) and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

Thai artist Utai Nopsiri (b. 1970) is known for his unique teak wood sculptures that are painstakingly handcrafted without the use of any electrical tools. Creating each element by hand from recycled wood, his abstract sculptures explore the philosophies of Buddhism, Taoism and Zen. Nopsiri has won awards including the 51st National Exhibition Award (2005) Thailand and the Krung Thai Bank Award (2006).

Internationally renowned Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak (b. 1961) presents a pair of soft sculptures, featuring a newly developed technique of intricately woven toile. Fluid, tactile and layered, Body Moves by Sanpitak explores the female body distilled to organic and geometric forms to convey her lived expression as a woman. Sanpitak is unquestionably one of Thailand's most important contemporary artists, who has exhibited at institutions such as LACMA, Singapore Art Museum, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Her work can be counted amongst the most powerful explorations of the female experience in all of Southeast Asia.
Thasnai Sethaseree (b. 1968, Thailand) works with three-dimensional collages, their optically layered surfaces carefully built up through a laborious process that draws on design motifs and decorative traditions unique to the Lanna culture of northern Thailand, where the artist is based. Working with paper, copper wire, fabric and plastic, Sethaseree’s Untitled work examines issues of memory, consumerism and modernity in the context of Thailand’s political history. Sethaseree has exhibited at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, and participated at the Venice Biennale (2003) and Gwangju Biennale (2002).
Myanmar artist Soe Yu Nwe’s (b. 1989) cross-cultural upbringing and experiences have influenced her practice to reflect on identity as a fluid, fragile and fragmented entity. Referencing the body, the viscera, and the botanical, her intricate ceramic works attempt to encompass the violent desires, tender affections, spiritual hopes, sexual instincts and maternal conflicts throughout nature's cyclical growth, decay and death. Fresh off a residency at Jingdezhen International Studio, Soe Yu will exhibit new works produced in the ceramic capital of China. She has exhibited at the National Gallery of Indonesia and Ayala Museum, Philippines.