Thai contemporary artist Parvit "Tae" Pichienrangsan, better known as Tae Parvit, is renowned for his raw and edgy line drawings and unique stickman characters. In his latest exhibition "Nowhere Special", his fans should expect to see less stickmen since the exhibition showcases landscape paintings.
"For no particular reason, I became interested in landscape painting. I took several road trips to the South and to Isan to immerse myself in the atmosphere there before returning to work in my studio. When I painted, I did not specifically use the places that I visited as my inspiration, but I embedded the atmosphere and memories that I had from each place into my creations. The exhibition is an expression of venues, events that occur there and choices between staying there or leaving. In order to not focus on places that I visited, I titled the exhibition 'Nowhere Special', explained Parvit.
Parvit, 27, discovered his strong passion for painting eight years ago while studying graphic design in Melbourne, Australia. At that point, he created murals and developed distinctive characters.
"I was not against graphic design, but I was uncomfortable that classes in the university did not allow me to do what I wanted to do. Students at the design school must learn about marketing strategy and how to communicate with and work for clients. However, I preferred to follow my heart and wanted to be free," said Parvit.
Top Floor, Falling Ghost, Falling People and Falling
"At that time, I liked several street artists who had created their own signature characters, so I designed faceless stickman characters with no gender. My stickman expresses through its body language, not facial expressions. During my early years in the art industry, I presented the stickman characters often, but recently I have been using them less because I want to challenge myself and give myself the opportunity to try new things. I do not have to do repetitive work."
When entering the exhibition room, visitors will walk through an enormous painting, Waterfall, that covers up one side of a wall in the room. Behind Waterfall, the painting Cave Wall is hidden. Visitors can feel the movement of wind energy while viewing the 24 abstract paintings that feature intense brush strokes.
"I included abstract paintings in the collection, but in the paintings, I present form or colour of objects, which do not resemble the real object. I can represent my idea anyway I want. There are spaces between each painting, so visitors can focus on each of them individually. In the exhibition room, there is a feeling of wind power and intense energy. There are paintings that depict the same location from different angles. For instance, four paintings displayed in a vertical line -- Top Floor, Falling Ghost, Falling People and Falling -- are like four photograph shots of the same waterfall. The three shots at the bottom are zoom shots. Falling People portrays a face in the waterfall and that face disappears in Falling," explained Parvit.
Aside from his passion for painting, Parvit has a strong interest in music, which influences his work. The artist released a project, "Nowhere Special Radio", which is animation accompanying songs of his choice. The animations that accompany his playlist can be viewed on the website, taeparvit.net and his Instagram taeparvit. Viewers will be surprised to see that one single animation can match with different music styles in the playlist. In the project, there will be live music performances inspired by "Nowhere Special". The recent performance Look Out The Window, Breathe And Listen by Scoutland and Golf T-Bone is available on Bangkok City City Gallery YouTube.
Cave Wall is hidden behind another painting.
"I always turn on music while working. If there is a sad song, it makes me feel bad. Currently, I enjoy electronic music with a fast beat and lots of drums, which excites me. 'Nowhere Special Radio' is like a parallel world of the physical exhibition. The project can create another kind of atmosphere in the form of sound that accompanies the exhibition. Each song on the playlist gives different feelings and I try to choose songs that match with the paintings as well," he said.
The artist is interested in exploring new media; in the exhibition, he employs a wide range of mediums such as charcoal, acrylic, oil pastel and pencil as well as oil paint for the first time. Since oil paint takes time to dry, he can spend time with each painting and rethink it. Parvit is one of those artists who appreciates improvising his paintings, but he does some preparation before improvisation.
"Total improvisation may not work and waste time, so I try to have a rough plan. I draw composition with pastels and improvise during the painting process. Oil paint creates thick texture, great volume and vivid colour. When employing several mediums that are incompatible, it is interesting. It is like two different chemicals that should not be combined; it causes unusual side effects such as creating crumpled patterns," said Parvit.
'Nowhere Special' was inspired by the artist's road trips.
"Being an artist is a great opportunity to express myself and my emotions through image. It is interesting because I do not mean to create a specific image, but the image can communicate with viewers. They understand the painting. I am interested to know how viewers feel and how my paintings affect their emotions. Working on paintings is very special."
"Nowhere Special" runs at Bangkok CityCity Gallery until July 4. Admission is free. Visit facebook.com/bangkokcitycity or call 083-087-2725.
Living Through Time portrays different shots from the same location.
