Art will find a way

THAT PARKINSON’S disease prevents artist Ithipol Thangchalok from wielding a paintbrush as he’s always done makes the silk scarves his artwork decorates all the more remarkable.
Rendering lively abstract designs with a marking pen, Ithipol gives his name to the scarves produced by Jim Thompson. The Ithipol Scarf is a limited edition bearing eight patterns and 21 different arrays of colour.

This silk twill scarf derived from Ithipol’s “Silence & Sound”

“People have always told me they don’t understand my abstracts,” says Ithipol, 71, “but when my art is transferred to a silk scarf, they base their judgement solely on the aesthetic value I’d intended. I want people to ‘feel’ the art more than ‘understanding’ it.”
Ithipol was honoured as a National Artist and earned his professor’s title in 2008, the same year he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It was a bittersweet period, but he adheres to the bright side.
“I think I’m lucky I’ve got Parkinson’s and not cancer!” he says. “I’ve been painting my whole life and I won’t let the disease cool my passion for it. I can no longer stand at a large canvas painting like I used to do, but I can work at a desk and use a marker, expressing my feelings on either paper or a sheet of PVC.”

At 71, Ithipol Thangchalok uses markers in place of paintbrushes.

Ithipol’s work had always been characterised by simple, serene imagery, yet his current output involves complicated lines and jumbles of elements. Five works – “Blue Lines”, “Blue Trees”, “Horizontal Lines”, Fallen Objects” and “Red Leaves” – have been printed on the silk scarves.

“I’d normally do a sketch first before painting, but the Parkinson’s changed that,” says Ithipol, who has regular sessions of physiotherapy and acupuncture. “Now I just spontaneously draw lines, continuing from one to another. It looks messy compared to my past work, which had more uniformity in the lines.” 
He points out the dried twig and leaf in each of the scarf prints. “They symbolise that life is always subject to change.”

 

Long silk-chiffon pareo from “Two Pages Series X”

Jim Thompson also chose three of Ithipol’s pre-Parkinson’s pieces to print on scarves. You can readily see the customary inner serenity of old in “Two Pages Series IX” and “Two Pages Series X”, played against chaotic surroundings. The third painting, “Silence and Sound”, contrasts dark and light as if testing the boundary between freedom and being locked into a system. 
All of the original artworks will be on display throughout the year at Bombyx, the new Jim Thompson restaurant-bar adjacent to the silk firm’s store at Siam Paragon.

Bombyx, the new Jim Thompson restaurant-bar at Siam Paragon, showcases original works by Ithipol.

“The composition of Ajarn Ithipol’s abstract work makes it suitable for printing on luxurious silk and it makes the scarves really attractive,” says assistant design director Piwat Lekhyananda. “We’ve tried to maintain that composition as much as possible. Mirror printing was used for the long scarf and the pareo, and neither distorts the original. Screen-printing on silk twill was used for the square scarf and silk chiffon for another long scarf and pareo.”

Long silk-chiffon scarf from “Horizontal Lines”

“Silence and Sound”, giving dark red and bright red equal space, gets an interesting twist on silk through the use of “two-page screen-printing”. The brighter hue is on one side of the scarf and the darker on the reverse.

“The oil-based paint marker Ajarn Ithipol used for the new series lends the work a glittering pearl-like effect,” Piwat points out. “To try and retain that effect, we used pigment prints in the screen-printing process to get a metallic look. 
“And the hem of each scarf is hand-rolled and hand-stitched, so you see some beautiful craftsmanship as well.”

Silk-twill scarf from “Fallen Objects”

WRAP UP IN LUXURY
The Ithipol Scarf collection is available at the Jim Thompson stores at Surawong, Siam Paragon, Central World and the Emporium.
Find out more at (02) 632 8100 and www.JimThompsonBombyx.com.