The warning in the mystic

IT TOOK Boonchai Bencharongkul and his surrealism-friendly Museum of Contemporary Art to drag Somphong Adulyasaraphan out of his self-imposed exile on a Kanchanaburi farm for an exhibition that, according to its title, is aimed at “Transcending Thai Surrealism”.

Bangkok art lovers will be glad to see Somphong back on the scene, and the more socially conscious will immediately acknowledge his warning – that the senseless exploitation of the natural environment is getting worse. 

“Village and Town Corruption” depicts four humans whose heads are replaced by the skulls of a wild boar, crow, water monitor and the similar lizard called takuad. They sit around a table gobbling up nature while their bodies gradually disintegrate. Somphong painted the picture in 1994, alarmed by the damage being done to the environment – and the situation has only worsened since.

“Selfish and greedy people destroy nature without realising they’re destroying themselves,” says the 66-year-old. “They unwittingly giggle and titter while their bodies slowly break apart.”

Somphong’s paintings vibrate with extraordinary detail, colour and strange juxtapositions, but the underlying message is grim. The devastation man inflicts on the environment is doubtless part of the reason he’s remained isolated for more than 20 years. He grows fruit and paints on his remote property next to a forest in Kanchanaburi’s Dan Makham Tia district, shunning the cities. 

So it was a rarity to have him briefly in Bangkok to open the exhibition and launch a book of the same title filled with reproductions of the art on display. In Thai and English, this is the MoCa’s second art book. Pimphan Hansrisakul and Jack Clontz of the museum staff compiled it. Museum founder Boonchai is, of course, a great admirer of surrealism, and the first book that came out was “Destiny to Imagination”, devoted to the art of Prateep Kochabua.

Many of the 30-odd paintings in Somphong’s exhibition come from Boonchai’s collection, although there are several new works. These include “Two-dimensional Village”, nearly three metres wide, which shows the two sides of the human coin – beautiful and in decay. “No matter how rich or beautiful you are, we all finally end up with death,” Somphong intones. “This work is true to the Buddha’s teachings about the impermanence of all things.”

Another new piece, “Move the Forest”, has wild animals and various species of trees aboard a raft, in the fashion of Noah’s Ark, escaping human destructiveness. Like his other work, it reflects her personal isolation in the world.

“My first solo show was 20 years ago,” he says. “I don’t have a lot of work to show because my working process is relatively slow, partly because I use tiny brushes to get the fine detail and partly because of my poor eyesight. A large painting can take almost two years to complete.”

Tiny brushes and all, Somphong is regarded as the Thai Salvador Dali, even borrowing the Spanish surrealist’s egg motif to represent new beginnings. “The shape of the egg is beautiful and the eggs themselves are delicate and fragile,” he says. “I use them to show that everything in nature has its own beauty, but the beauty is subject to decay.”

In “A Land Where Life is Found” from 2009, the Garden of Eden is an ovular paradise of lush forest, misty waterfalls and a multitude of fauna. The harmony in which they exist contrasts sharply with our endangered world of poisoned air and water.

The scarecrows in “Scarecrows’ Village” from 1996 appear bleakly lifeless, as if to scorn those who abuse nature and remind us that decay is out shared destiny – though we might yet prove helpful in death, as fertiliser for the soil.

From the great Thawan Duchanee, Somphong borrows flayed animals and crumbling skulls, placing their innate horror among his own unnerving images of rotting trees and animal skeletons. He has a collection of bones, seashells and coral as reference points for his art. Again, the warning of life’s impermanence is inescapable.

Composite beings – human bodies with the skulls of lizards, fish, buffalo and the like – play a significant and satirical role in his work. In his youth he spent much time at Dusit Zoo watching the animals’ behaviour. He studied reptiles at the snake farm of the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute. 

An art degree from Silpakorn University promised little in the way of financial security, so Somphong became a photographer – doing fashion sets for magazines like Praew and shooting nature and scenery for Faa Muang Thai and other publications. He managed to save enough money that he could paint what he wished without having to worry about the whims of patrons.

But consider what Somphong witnessed on those photo shoots: appalling displays of human brutality toward animals and the environment, including hunters cruelly slaughtering a civet cat and its offspring and a gibbon shot while clutching her baby.

“The hunting of living creatures profoundly disturbed me,” he says. “Not knowing what else to do to alleviate my sorrow, I turned to painting as a way to express my sorrow at having witnessed such horrible events. 

“The surrealist style allows me to extend beyond the normal boundaries, but you have to be accurate in surrealism.” With this show, and the recent pieces in particular, you can sense that Somphong has indeed transcended surrealism itself, if only with his heartfelt warnings to society.

“Rainbow Coloured Fantasy” was made in 2011. It features a buxom woman with the head of an eagle. The leopard draped around her shoulders like a shawl and her headdress of feathers are images that savage the wasteful ways of modern fashion. This is nature being consumed whole, and unnecessarily. 

 

 

MESSAGE IN THE MEDIUM

>>The exhibition “Transcending Thai Surrealism: The Art of Somphong Adulyasaraphan” continues until November 28 at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road, next to the Benchachinda Building. 

>>The museum is open daily except Monday from 10 to 6. Admission is Bt180 (free for children under 15, seniors, the disabled, monks and novices).

>>The book costs Bt1,500 at the museum.

>>Find out more at (02) 953 1005-7 and www.MoCABangkok.com.