Out of crisis, healing art
Dozens of artists are participating in the fundraising exhibition ‘All Time High’
The Haematology Department at Chiang Mai University will be the beneficiary of proceeds from sales in Udomsak Krisanamis’ latest charitable art initiative.
Gallery Ver in Bangkok is hosting the exhibition “All Time High: Art for Charity” this Saturday through July 7, featuring the work of Udomsak and 40 other artists, all Thais except for one Japanese.
There are paintings, prints and photographs, mixed media and sculptures.
Udomsak Krisanamis
Udomsak sees no distinction between art and life as he draws on the latter to create the former, turning key experiences into a continuing, colourful, abstract record of moments lived. His previous show at Gallery Ver, in 2016, was all monochrome, a shadow of the illness afflicting him at the time.
He started his career in Bangkok and then made a name for himself in New York in the mid-1990s before returning home and settling in Chiang Mai.
The 2016 show, “Paint It Black”, took its name from the Rolling Stones song, a bleak lament on depression, and Udomsak matched the Jagger and Richards with large, lyrical paintings in black, white and blue.
“I had a blast making these,” he said at the opening, “even though I’d been through some tough times, but that’s life. What you see here is the result of what came before.”
Udomsak’s “Any Day Now”/ Courtesy of Gallery Ver
Now 52, Udomsak is always looking for ways to “give back” to society in gratitude for its merits. Last year he had his artworks printed on T-shirts to raise money for Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, where he’d undergone treatment.
Now he’s recruited a slew of talent to do more “giving back”, with proceeds from the upcoming exhibition pledged to Chiang Mai University’s Haematology Department.
The show is filled with dazzling pieces. One of the many highlights is Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “Untitled 2018 (“The Odious Smell of Truth)”, in which he’s painted over newsprint atop the canvas. The Nation reserves further comment on his particular message.
“The Clam Point of Taoism”, a minimalist painting also completed just this year by Kamin Lertchaiprasert, is another stand-out, as is Udomsak’s own 2016 mixed-media drawing “Any Day Now”.
Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “Untitled (The Odious Smell of Truth)” /Courtesy of Gallery Ver
Arin Rungjang has contributed a striking photograph from 2013, titled “The Living are Few But the Dead are Many”, a follow-on piece from his installation of the same name shown at the Sydney Biennale the year before. And Japanese Takeo Hanazawa offers a pair of lovely works, a 2018 acrylic painting and a 2017 lithograph, to the highest bidders.
Also participating in the exhibition are Kamol Paosawasdi, Nipan Oraniwesna, Thasnai Sethaseree, Chitti Kasemkitvatana, Pratchya Phinthong, Yuree Kensaku, Lee Anantawat, Viriya Chotpanyavisut, Korakit Arunanondchai, Tanachai Bandasak, Viriya Chotpanyavisut, Miti Ruangkritya, Nontawat Numbenchapol and Disorn Duangdao.
Kamin Lertchaiprasert’s “The Clam Point of Taoism” /Courtesy of Gallery Ver
SOMETHING GIVEN BACK
- The exhibition “All Time High: Art for Charity” opens on Saturday and continues through July 7.
- Gallery Ver is in art cluster N22 on Narathivas Rachanakharin Soi 22, Bangkok.
- Learn more on the “GalleryVer” Facebook page.
Arin Rungjang’s “The Living are Few But the Dead are Many” /Courtesy of Gallery Ver
