Pornthip Raksapiksu has big ambitions. With business partner and boyfriend Rob Collins, Khun Pornthip opened D Gallery at the Royal Phuket Marina in December 2007 to add sophistication to the art scene in Phuket. The works that hang in the D Gallery on a stormy mid-April afternoon are surely sophisticated. Drawn from both established and up-and-coming Thai and Vietnamese artists, the paintings often wrestle with big ideas: the blending of traditional techniques and modern imagery, a clash of cultures, urban living, and the intersections between commercial and erotic culture.
"It might take time for Phuket people to understand this art," she says. "It's not everyday colour or beauty. They're conceptual, and most of them are sophisticated."
Response to the new gallery has been positive, she says. Two hundred people attended the opening, and during the rest of the high season, the gallery had steady traffic. That's unusual for a high-end gallery, she adds.
"Location is everything," she says. "And artists love it. When they came here, they said, 'Wow! This is nice.' I didn't put 10 in a row like other shops. There are other galleries in Phuket, but they're more into hanging copy art, or Western and Chinese artists."
D Gallery inhabits a 220sqm ground-floor suite at the Royal Phuket Marina. It's a beautifully designed space that's generous with wall space and lighting for featured artists. One half of the gallery features an exhibition of a single artist. Today it's Therakiat Wangwatcharakul, whose paintings on aluminium sheet and canvas are studies in shadow and colour. The opposite side of the gallery shows Pornthip's personal collection, an eclectic assemblage of works by artists she admires. Paintings hang along the walls of the space as well as from panels that parallel windows and a handful that fan out toward the entryway from a far corner. Khun Therakiat's "Light and Life" exhibition, the gallery's first solo exhibition, is about to come down to make room for the next exhibition.
Pornthip studied interior design at Rangsit University and became interested in art before graduating. Her first job landed her in a top gallery in Bangkok, where she came to know Thaweesak Srithongdee, whose "Soldiers" solo exhibit is set to run at the gallery through 17 May. Today, however, Khun Thaweesak's paintings lean against walls while waiting their turn in the showcase room.
"At first I thought it was very funny, different from Thai art," Pornthip says of Thaweesak's pop-erotic sensibility. "It has a futuristic style, so it caught my eye."
Those paintings awaiting exhibition show a progression in Thaweesak's style. Two early paintings feature nude figures incorporating strange juxtapositions: a bearded man's head on a woman's body in one, and a single figure surrounded by a pair of disembodied heads in the other. Pornthip moves to where a pair of Thaweesak's later works hang as part of D Gallery's more permanent collection. The figures in them look like muay thai boxers, but with large, magnetic eyes.
"I was in an art gallery, one of the top galleries in Thailand, and I knew him from working there," she says. "I also happened to know him personally for six years. You can see improvement in his work. Now he's using different materials, some on cloth, some on canvas, but it's very interesting. Some are modern -- pop art style, if you can see it. It's very popular and very commercial."
With help from D Gallery Manager Nichakamon Khajorn, we interviewed Thaweesak about his concept for the "Soldiers" exhibition and about his experiences showing his works. With "Soldiers", Thaweesak looks at wars and their causes.
"I want to express my views about human beings in two parts," he writes in his notes on the exhibition. "One is to emphasize the human teenager's period of time, a time when they are searching for themselves, a time of freedom, a time of searching for peace. The other view is to convey the conflicts, racial differences, religions and appearances that are the cause of wars and destruction. I think teenagers and wars are related. Teenagers can be brainwashed and used to create wars, and wars are a way to trade weapons and to take away and possess natural resources."
Our thanks to Khun Nichakamon for her generous assistance in providing translations for this interview

Did you serve in the military?
No, I didn't.

So where did the military theme in your art come from?

I have been interested in it since I was in the university in 1995. At that moment, my artwork was about human behaviour, social psychology. I also read the history and autobiography of important people.
Then, in 2005, I became interested in real art, and my work took a perspective of questioning and observing human disagreement--the things that cause wars. "Soldiers" is the first time that I have emphasized this concept.

You have some interesting ideas about teenagers and war.

I am interested in several sides: how lives, thoughts, societies and the world relate to each other.

Does a teenager's search for identity connect with war?

It is indirectly connected by way of politics, government and wars. These can lead a teenager's search for identity to connect with wars.

In my country, the United States, teenagers sometimes rebel against their parents as they search for their own identity. Do you think Thai teenagers have similar or different attitudes and experiences?

In my opinion, we have differences in our cultures. In Thailand, family members are closer to each other than in America. Kids won't leave their parents' home even when they've grown up. And parents still look after the teenage members of the family even after they move out.
But that's not a reason to judge Eastern cultures better or worse than Western. Family disagreement can happen in both cultures. When teenagers are in a time of searching for their own identities, sometimes they rebel against their parents. I think Thai teenagers are much softer than teenagers in America. And although culture and social values are changing, I believe that it will still be like this for long time.

Maybe a teenager's need for identity can be used by people who want war. Is that part of the concept of this exhibition?

Actually, the teenagers in my works are just like blank models. Can you imagine a tree growing up to be a big tree? Suddenly, someone cuts it down and transforms it into chairs, fences, tables, tennis rackets, baseball bats or arches, to name just a few things.
Your notes on the exhibition say that war is a way to take away and possess natural resources. Do you think of teenagers as natural resources?
Teenagers are human resources.

Does artwork from teenagers who have experienced war influence your artwork? If so, can you talk about some works that have influenced you?

Wars inspired me to create art. I started with the "Hero" art exhibition in Fukuoka, Japan (2006). It was my first time to do installations and video. This project became a series of art exhibitions that I did three or four times in Singapore, France and Bangkok and in a recent video project, "Strawberry," in Bangkok, in February 2008.

What are some of the techniques you use?

I planned to work on 20 paintings of teenagers in different characters and individual feeling expressions. All artworks are acrylic on canvas and acrylic on cloth.

Your exhibition notes cite surrealism and pop art as influences. Could you describe some of your influences, whether artists or particular works?

I like many artists. I studied their works and lifestyles, and now I can see myself more clearly. I prefer their way of life and their inspirations to their art. Andy Warhol, for example. He could do various mediums (photographer, filmmaker, fashion designer). Lucien Freud, too -- I think he's awesome! He paints portraits in unusual juxtaposition. I've seen his work--it's enchanted!

Which do you think was your most successful exhibition? Why was it so successful?

The most successful was "Hero" in Fukuoka, Japan. It was colourful, and I enjoyed it a lot. The Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum was very supportive. I painted a car, a whole car. I designed and created the book, and the guests could draw and paint on it. It was my first complete installation. It was also the first time that I affiliated art with video. I wanted to convey my thoughts, and I achieved my goal. That is why it was the most successful art exhibition, and I got many people interested in it.