WE Smile Magazine October 2015

a publication of his biography along with
other artists over time. While the first
part of Chatchai’s exhibition ended in
August, the second part, which bagan in
September, will run through April 2016.
A highly ambitious project undertaken
by the curator Gregory Galligan, this
exposition successfully serves as a
retrospective of the internationally
acclaimed Puipia. Gregory, however,
mentions that it is intended to be an
ephemeral, living archive, inserting
itself into the Puipia’s ongoing artistic
evolution. One can definitely witness
this metamorphosis of the artist in the
exhibited works. A rare glimpse into
the beginnings from the artist’s college
days shows the artist adopting modernist
styles such as photorealism and abstract
expressionism followed by usage of
‘found’ objects like Buddhist amulets,
talismans, even cooking utensils in his
assemblage canvases charting his path
from the abstract to representational
idiom—for which he became widely
renowned.
Besides the paintings, a vitrine display
highlights several personal ephemera
from the artist’s studio, such as postcards,
photos, catalogs, paint tubes, books
which traces the artist’s working process,
inspirations and influences, and provide
a different dimension to the exhibition
by giving an insight into this solitary
artist’s mind. It is rather interesting to
note how the artist was inspired with
books like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry
Finn (1884) and Paul Gauguin’s Noa Noa:
The Tahitian Journal (1901). It is a key
area in the ‘living archive’ and shows
what influences (as well as how those
influences affect) the lives and works of
the ever-evolving artist.
This exhibition is also a comeback of
sorts for Puipia. Since his self-imposed
solitude in 2011 when he staged his
own funeral and released a book in the
format of a Thai funeral book, this is
the first time one gets a glimpse into his
works over the last 4 years. The most
recent monumental self-portraits, made
during his extended exile, gives a peek
into Puipia’s continuous transformation
into profoundly inward expressions.
The new series dating from late 2013
to the present, reveals a transition into
quiet monastic reflection, an expression
of the artist’s search for spiritual
equilibrium in a world of confusion. In
03:15 a.m., 16-05-2014 (2014), we see
the black and white close up of the
artist’s face with his eyes closed in a
quiet surrender surrounded by dying
butterflies in a red flame and a
trumpeting elephant. The date in the
title refers to a time of divergent political
views expressed by thousands of Thai
citizens just days before a decisive
coup-d’état.
The butterflies stand out as a motif
in his recent somber and dreamy
canvasses. This portrayal of beautyyet-fragility
is based on the artist’s
own experience of littered dead
butterflies after a long night’s painting,
as they fall fatally attracted to the
toxic paint. With the diving butterflies,
Puipia seems to stress the importance
of social activism in contemporary
art—something he had been propagating
for some time. He suggested years
back how ‘social issues are important
for artists to deal with, while having the
freedom to think about flowers and
heat and butterflies’.
Chatchai’s relentless message of
hope and untiring pursuit to change
society brings to mind Ruskin Bond’s
very poignant words, “And when all the
wars are over, a butterfly will still be
beautiful.” Words of hope which possibly
urged Chatchai to never stop searching
for the perfect visual language and to
‘just keep on painting’.