Fantastic view of Bangkok comes to Phuket
Detail from one of Kwanchai's intricately detailed bird's eye views of the capital.
Galeria 346, on the corner of Phuket Rd and Kra Rd, has scored an art coup by securing an exhibition of the highly talented 26-year-old Thai artist Kwanchai Lichaikul, from October 24 until the end of January next year.
Kwanchai, who was born in Uttaradit but is based in Bangkok, has put together an exhibition titled Ideal City, featuring intricate paintings and drawings of the capital city, which at first sight are reminiscent of the detail-filled murals to be found in Buddhist temples.
Closer inspection, however, reveals more secular, more disturbing elements – political demonstrations and anti-terrorist training exercises, for example – all taking place among the workaday lives of the people of Bangkok.
The welcoming facade of Phuket346, café, art gallery and very, very small hotel.
Kwanchai says his work is “inspired by today’s society and community, which consists of various people with different ways of life – people live in the uncertainties created by the economy, society, politics, religion, environment and culture, which are all intertwined.”
Society is seen from a bird’s eye view, with groups of people, animals, buildings, houses, roads and other structures presented by Kwanchai as a story, and combined with his own dreams, imagination and personal point of view, to give a vision of a recognisable yet fantastic city.
Galeria 346, which started life in the 1930s as Phuket’s first ice shop, is today a café and art gallery downstairs with three cosy guest bedrooms above. For more on the place, go here.
