Art of belief

For most people, beliefs are developed at a young age. Attitudes, however, are formed in later years from new experiences.

To depict their beliefs through art, five artists present their works in an exhibition titled "Believes Art Exhibition" now on view at Duke Contemporary Art Space.

Of the five, three artists -- Kriangkrai Kongkhanun, Anupong Chantorn and Uttaporn Nimmalaikaew -- created paintings based on their perspectives related to Buddhism. Knakorn Kachacheewa was the only one who portrayed a story of a new attitude in our society. Female artist Imhathai Suwatthanasilp presented handwoven knits made from hair, which represent the circle of life, happiness and changes.

Kriangkrai said art can help people be gentler and allow young people use their imaginations.

"Imagination is important and necessary for people in any field. Before an invention was built, it was visualised by people," Kriangkrai said.

While Uttaporn thought art could indicate our history, culture and way of life, Knakorn believed that art could take our mind to another level.

"We could tell how the economy or way of life was through paintings, photos, sculpture, etc. Each artwork was a reflection to that year or century," Uttaporn said.

"In developed countries, people generally appreciate art, but in Thailand, many people live hand to mouth; therefore, only some groups of people are interested in art. Nonetheless, art can refine young people. It cultivates aesthetic sensibilities in people who appreciate it," Knakorn said.

Life spoke to four of these artists about their collections.

Kriangkrai Kongkhanun

Kriangkrai, also the exhibition's curator, illustrated three art pieces of mythological creatures: The Secret Dragon Chapter 1: Dragon Of The Lost Sea; The Secret Dragon Chapter 2: Water Dragon; and The Garden Of God Chapter 11: Leopard. The vivid paintings were inspired by his belief in heaven, hell and stories of mythological creatures. When Kriangkrai was young, he studied in a temple school and has taught to believe the words of the Buddha who said: "Do good, avoid evil." He has believed that if he does a bad thing, he will go to hell. Nonetheless, heaven in his viewpoint isn't a perfect place.

"I think human beings can't stop our desires. Although we become angels or legendary creatures in a heaven, we still have emotions and can't give up our greed and desire to pursue happiness. I created the paintings with regard to information about Greek goddesses, who kill one another, as well as Asian goddesses who conjure things," Kriangkrai said.

In the past, Kriangkrai, who is also assistant dean at the Faculty of Digital and Multimedia Art at Sripatum University, painted lots of black and white collections, and he wanted to create something more colourful.

"This was an experiment. I used new techniques such as drawing flowers and used several kinds of colours including luminous, metallic and glitter colours," Kriangkrai said.

Anupong Chantorn

Celebrated for the award-winning but controversial collection "Bhikkhu Sandan Ka", meaning crow-like monks, the art instructor at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang continually raises questions about goodness through his works -- Girl With Earrings; Black Earrings; and Black Panther, which were painted on local cloths from different provinces. The ideas for his paintings came when he visited villages in the countryside and found there was no young people because they had left the communities to study or work.

"The information reminded me about news of young women who worked as part-time prostitutes. They didn't only leave their hometowns, but they also give up their humanity and their soul for money. The earring in the painting is a symbol of sex," Anupong explained.

The artist liked to paint on fabric that related to his stories. In "Bhikkhu Sandan Ka", he painted on the robes of monks. For Believes, he chose to paint on local fabrics that he bought from villages.

"Each fabric has different colour, texture, pattern and detail. It was enjoyable to imagine how the form of the fabric would fit with a story. When I saw the black fabric, I visualised night-time and used it to paint Black Panther. Painting black colours on the black fabric added attractive and mysterious dimensions to it. A bright colour was added to the woman's lip to be more appealing. The woman in Black Panther reflects the story of a woman who records the number of her sex partners," the artist said.

Uttaporn Nimmalaikaew

Another award-winning artist expresses his gratefulness towards his parents. In 2010, he created the well-known three-dimensional painting on gauze, Remuneration To The Mother, and a year later Mother's Chair was another 3D painting, made by mixed techniques. At "Believes", the 3D paintings -- Deep Inside Buddha Image No.1; Deep Inside Buddha Image No.2; and Mission To The Moon -- portrayed his ideas motivated from seeing people who say prayers to Buddha statues.

"For me, Buddha's teaching is the most important. And Buddha statues originally were created to remind of the Buddha's teaching. I linked this idea to monks preaching that said our parents were monks in our houses. The parents are arhats because they are able to love and forgive their children. Instead of paying attention to statues, we had better take care of our parents. I mixed pictures of my parents and a Buddha statue, and used several techniques to create three dimensions on thin fabrics," Uttaporn said.

Knakorn Kachacheewa

The art instructor at the Faculty of Architecture, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, noticed mixed cultures in Bangkok, which reflects on fashion and the female standard appearance. His three acrylic paintings -- Air Force Hat; Black Hand With Cigarette; and Military Cap -- were selected from his previous collection, "Pink", to display attitudes of women in a new generation.

"Women in the portraits represent people in this generation who want to have V-shaped faces, big eyes and high nose bridges. They also believe in equality and no boundaries in anything. They dress up with accessories inspired by authority uniforms such as wearing a dress with combat boots or an air-force hat. The new generation can mix everything together and don't care about the meaning behind the items. The painting, Black Hand With Cigarette portrays equality. Women can smoke like men," Knakorn said.

"Pink" was his first collection that focused on portraits.

"My previous paintings had lots of details, but 'Pink' was something new. I had never painted portraits before, but I didn't mean to make it look like real people. Each portrait features an image that women want to be, and under these kinds of images, the women still have Thai attitudes and Thai personalities in them," the artist said.

'Believes Art Exhibition' on display at Duke Contemporary Art Space, Gaysorn Village, ends today. Admission is free. Visit facebook/duke.gaysorn or call 094-647-8888 for more information.