A lifetime of ADVENTURE and ART

His weary body may be weary, but 75-year-old artist Inson Wongsam never gets tired of turning pieces of wood into works of art.

 

For decades, he's been transforming uncountable pieces of wood he's found in places he has visited and lived - from an art college in Bangkok to cities around the world in 1960's - into creative sculptures.

At the recent official opening of the Dhamma Park Gallery in Ban Pa Sang Noi, Lamphun that serves as his residence, gallery and dharma park, Inson was still working on a series that he had planned to finished a decade earlier.

But some of his completed unique forms were already sharing the space with works by colourful contemporary artist Navin Rawanchaikul in the exhibition "Fly With Me to Another World".

Inspired by Inson's adventurous spirit, Chiang Mai-based artist Navin began to shape Inson's wild, decade-long journey around the world into an exhibition in 1999.

The artists from two different generations have held a series of exhibitions, activities and workshops, encouraging local participation.

But after a decade-long travelling stint around the world, the fibreglass sculpture of young Inson on his Lambretta has eventually returned home to the gallery in Ban Pa Sang Noi.

 

It once got nearer to home in Haripunchai National Museum, which Navin turned into a contemporary and temporary art venue.

But this time, the permanent exhibition is different. It's a combination that bridges the almost 40-year gap between the two artists.

In one of the two-storey wooden houses on stilts inside his property, Inson's artistic trademark pieces - colourful wooden sculptures - are placed in the middle of the room, surrounded by Navin's multi-coloured paintings.

"I'm getting old so I want to make something vibrant," says Inson, who has always used vibrant colours in his work.

He earned the title of National Artist in the field of visual arts (sculpture) in 1999, after several decades of art devotion.

 

The challenge isn't just building a new art venue, says Navin, "but how to fit contemporary pieces in a traditional gallery".

Adjacent to the two-generation installation is a multi-media story of Navin on his journey inspired by the national artist, and a fibreglass model of Navin on his Lambretta. Across the room is the heart of the permanent exhibition - a fibreglass portrait of a younger Inson depicting him riding his scooter against the backdrop of his respected professor.

Sharing the grounds of Dhamma Park Gallery are collections of unorthodox, humorous and satirical Buddhist sculptures created by his wife Venetia Walkey or Wanida Wongsam.

"His extraordinary life makes him nothing less than a legend," says art instructor Kongsak Gulglangdon of Silpakorn University, referring to Inson's adventurous spirit.

One week after Prof Silpa Bhirasri - who pioneered Western art teaching in Thailand - passed away in May 1962, Inson and his travelling buddy, Italian artist Corrado Feroci, took off on their scooters. His was equipped with artwork and materials to create new pieces. But his buddy soon gave up the dream of travelling the world, sold his scooter and caught a flight back from Calcutta. From there, Inson continued on the planned track, heading to Delhi on his own.

 

"I wanted to hear again what Ajarn Silpa had told us before," Inson said, recalling his college years during which he studied under the art professor who is considered as the father of Thai modern art.

Eighteen months later, early one November morning, he arrived at Silpa's house in Geovenni, near Florence, Italy. Across Asia and Europe, Inson made several new travelling mates and dozens of new friends, met thousands of people from different cultures, and exhibited his work in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece and also Silpa's hometown.

From there, he left his scooter behind and went on to live and study in Paris for three years before spending several more years in New York. Tired of big cities, he eventually returned to live a simple life in the small town of Huay Fai, Pa Sang in 1974 where he spent most of the time sculpting wood.

His journey is often described by many admirers as the pilgrimage of a monk whose teaching is based on first-hand experience.

However, Kongsak, who followed Inson into Silpakorn University's Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts a few decades later, points out that such an adventurous story often overshadows the many art pieces made by the creative mind.

Inson is not only famous for his unique life, but also his large wooden sculptures and regular exhibitions. However, poor health has forced Inson to work on a smaller scale and at a slower rate in the past decade. Instead of finishing 365 woodcut pieces in 2001 as planned, it took him a decade to complete the first 200 pieces, some of which are currently being exhibited at his house.

 

"His avant-garde ideas, fine workmanship and discipline are not talked about as often as they should be," says Kongsak.

Unlike his colleagues, Inson has always had unique methods of creating art, observes Kongsak. Most artists of his era rely on figurative techniques, creating art pieces from what's offered to them by natural or concrete objects.

"But Inson, works in the realm of the abstract, creating his work out of his imagination!" says Kongsak. Inson's work is often a result of visually interpreting equipment that generates sounds like bells or drums. Sometimes he imagines what the reverberations of the sea are like and translates them into a plastic artwork.

But what impresses Kongsak most is how Inson has kept his inspiration and his hands on pieces of wood till today.

"I'll keep working [on those wooden pieces] till the day my body doesn't allow me to," promises Inson with a weary but determined smile.