Title: Arts from the view of youngsters
Press: Khao Sod Newspaper (Afternoon)
Section: Kid and Education
Date: 18 Sep 2014
Page: 24
ARTS FROM THE VIEW OF YOUNGSTERS
After the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok (MOCA Bangkok), directed by Pette– Budyapa Bencharongkul, announced their “Art Forward Fund Award” Program (AFFA), they received over 160 pieces from freshly graduated art students from all over the country. The program aims to give opportunities to young artists, supporting them to become professional artists and exhibit their work internationally.
The winning award was to be given to the best artist of the year, decided by an internationally-recognized jury made up of key members of the art world. The judges included Korakrit Arunanondchai, a thai artist who resides and works in New York City, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Jim Thomson’s art director and head curator, Disaphol Chansiri, an experienced art collector, Phillip Tinary, the Ullens Center For Contemporary Art’s director and curator, and Adrian Wong, a Chicago-based new media artist. The results were to be announced at the Temporary Exhibition Room, MOCA Bangkok.
The Temporary Exhibition Room showed all 15 finalist’s artworks created from various medium and techniques such as steel welding, mixed media painting, photography, kinetic art, short film and food preservation. These artworks were on display for a period, awaiting appraisal by the judges.
The artwork that picked up the top prize was created by Tanaphol Inthong, a graduated student from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Bangkok University, for his piece “From the Past.”
From the Past consists of three small art pieces made in the form of Wedding Rings, A Monument of Gentlemen and Nut.
Tanaphol Inthong said he was grateful and thankful to join the program and have the chance to connect with artist friends from different places and institutes all around Thailand, and finally, to receive this award. He explained, “My work talks about my family’s history by transforming personal historical objects to tell those stories. These objects freeze times and emotions for me. Wedding Rings, A Monument of Gentlemen and Nut each represent a person: my father, mother and me.
Tanaphol also received one hundred thousand Thai baht and a 5-day trip to visit Absolut Art Award in Stockholm, Sweden, with the chance to exhibit his works internationally in the future.
In addition, AFFA also presented an Art Patron award to Petcharat Darnduangdee, the artist of “Relationship.” She used food preservation techniques with mango to create a piece of shirt, pants, a sarong and a dining table cloth. Another artwork in this show, “Shortfilm,” by Tinnawach Chankloy, received the Absolut Choice award.
Pette Budyapa tells us that this program was founded because the organization and sponsors want to see a new generation of Thai artists have space to exhibit their creations. The judgement took time to be finalized because the judges wanted to study each piece and learn how they had been developed before making a decision.
“I have seen many artworks around the world and I can say that these new artists are very talented. They spent time on the detailed conceptualization of their pieces. I would like to invite everyone to visit our exhibition and see how much time and effort these young artists have put into their works. For next year and in the future, we also would like to see more Thai artists on the ASEAN art world.” The art director of MOCA Bangkok said.
Visit MOCA Bangkok for this exhibition at G floor until 21 September, free entry.
(Image of the work featured in the news “Finalist’s project “Living Room” by Tuangkamol Thongborisute, BFA Silpakorn University)
Tuang T 