Visions from the east
Mongolian and Chinese works presented in two Bangkok exhibitions
Bangkok continues to make up for its lack of a world-class gallery-museum like those in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong by playing host to leading artists from overseas. This week there are rare works from Mongolia and China on view at two commercial galleries.
Choindongiin Khurelbaatar, one of Mongolia’s most acclaimed painters, tonight opens an exhibition at the Serindia Gallery.
A graduate of the Ilya Repin Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he studied under the late renowned Victor Oreshnikov and has been decorated with the Pole Star, among Mongolia’s highest honours.
At first glance, Khurelbaatar’s landscapes – seen in major cultural cities around the world – look like photographs. The realism is dazzling, will all credit going to the skilful hand holding his fine brushes and his pitch-perfect sense of colour. The paintings capture the remote spiritual calmness of the immense Mongolian steppe where the fabled khans once galloped – and where Khurelbaatar was born.
He will be at the opening at 6 this evening, with Mongolia Ambassador Chimeddorjiin Battumur presiding. The show continues through June.
Tang Contemporary Art, part of a Beijing-based chain of galleries mostly representing living Chinese artists, yesterday opened the exhibition “Out of Sight” featuring emerging artists Deng Biwen, Huang Cheng, Wu Junhong, Ye Nan and Zhang Xiangxi.
All born in late ’70s and early ’80s, the five artists deal in social ailments stemming from rapid changes and lost traditions. The tension that many Chinese feel about the influx of foreign cultures can be felt in through their paintings, installations, photographs and mixed media.
With the determination of youth, they seek to liberate their world by creating a self-contained model and seemingly common plots. Elegant qualities emerge from mundane culture as the spirit of their predecessors’ traditions, but also confusion and even nightmares. The overall impact of the show – which runs until June 22 – is quite thrilling.
ART DAY OUT
The Serindia Gallery is in OP Garden near the Oriental Hotel on Charoen Krung Soi 36. Get the details at www.SerindiaGallery.com.
Tang Contemporary Art is on the fifth floor of the Silom Galleria at 919/3 Silom Soi 19. Find out more at www.TangContemporary.com.
