Fah Thai Magazine May June 2018

GALLERY
It’s a constant busy in the
city’s indie art world, with
momentum picking up
for an inaugural biennale.
Photographer Jesper Haynes
makes the rounds on the
opening day circuit.
Words & Photos Jesper Haynes
Ifell in love with Bangkok’s art scene
back in early 2000, a time when About
Café was an active experimental
gallery, with always something fun going
on. Another place called Gig Groceries
inspired me to make the book GIG, which
is a tribute to Bangkok’s indie music and
art world.
The continuing energy and passion of
artistic creations in this city endured. Ten
years later, my first solo show was at No
Space gallery in (nightlife destination) RCA.
At the time it was one of the most fun art
galleries around. Run by musician Bank and
photographer Yoko, this followed with
more of my works exhibited at burgeoning
art spaces such the Space, Soy Sauce Factory,
Speedy Grandma and finally, at Jam factory
last year. So here we are, with an established
Bangkok scene bursting with artistic
expressions that can be avant-garde, offbeat
but always personal.
I have really high hopes for Bangkok
becoming a mini Berlin. It has all the right
ingredients, one of the most important
being low rent and secondly, lots of big
available spaces that could easily be
converted into galleries.
Many poor artists would probably
argue we’re not there yet but I do have
a sense the Bangkok [art] world is still
evolving. In the last four or five years,
so many new interesting venues have
appeared, and there are now many areas
where clusters of galleries form small
communities where artists support each
other, a sweetness that is often missing in
bigger markets.
Bangkok’s Chinatown has independent
galleries like Cho Why, around the corner
from the original About Café that started it
all back in the 80’s.
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