TH: Perspective: Arts and Politics (fwd)
Elliott Parker
Date: Sun, 3 Oct 93 21:56:51+0700
From: Kamol Hengkietisak <ka...@ipied.tu.ac.th>
Subject: Bangkok Post Oct 3: Sunday Perspective: Arts & Politics
Art becomes embroiled in politics from time to time but, more
often, politics play a prominent role in local art circles, as
shown by a recent heated debate over whose art best suits the
walls of Government House, reports Sombat Raksakul.
WHEN banker-politician Deputy Prime Minister Amnuay Virawan felt
that the old paintings adorning Government House were becoming an
eyesore, he consulted his favourite artist, Chalermchai
Kositpipat. The deputy prime minister has been lauded for his
success in business, economics and administration, but now he
faces bitter criticism over his attempts at interior decoration.
On his own initiative, Dr Amnuay recently announced plans to
discard all the old paintings in Government House and replace them
with new works by nationally-renowned artists. He asked
Chalermchai to oversee the project to paint the new pictures with
five other artists.
The artist, in an interview in Matichon magazine, said "most of
them [the old paintings] are inferior and could have been bought
at any roadside gallery. They are ugly, have no constructive
concepts, are tasteless and could shame the country."
After an official press conference introduced the project,
however, Mr Amnuay and Chalermchai became the target of criticism
by artists and art experts.
One of strongest critics was Silpakorn University academic Vibul
Leesuwan, who wrote an article opposing the project in Siam Rath
magazine.
"The process of choosing the artists should have been transparent.
Government House is not the deputy prime minister's personal home.
It belongs to the nation. The decoration of Government House
should enhance the whole nation's prestige, not just that of one
group of artists." Vibul proposed that a committee of art experts
consider which artist's work should adorn the house.
After meeting the strong opposition from artists, academics and
critics, Chalermchai announced his withdrawal from the project,
and Mr Amnuay has not mentioned it since.
In local art circles, Chalermchai is well-known. He received a
gold medal in the Chitrakham Bualuang Contest while he was
studying at Silpakorn University. But by choosing him as project
coordinator, Mr Amnuay made a mistake.
The artist never misses an opportunity to attend high-society
gatherings. He is regarded, inside and outside of art circles,
more as a salesman or lobbyist than an artist.
"Chalermchai is unacceptable in the eyes of other artists, and has
met strong opposition from local art circles," said artist Vasan
Sithikhet.
"If it was the deputy prime minister's house, he would have the
right to choose Chalermchai or anyone else according to his own
personal taste. But Government House is national property.
"His intentions are good, but good intentions are not enough
because art and culture are delicate matters, quite different from
economic and political affairs."
"Art is not solely imagination. It has its own set of rules and
standards which should help it communicate to people," he said.
Although the controversy is over, the relationship between the
banker-politician and the artist clearly reflects the significant
role of money in local art circles.
Future art may be decided by the personal tastes of a few members
of high society because they have more purchasing power than
people in lower classes. There are fears this could result in the
monopolisation of art.
"The Thai art scene is dying," said Vasan. "If artists create
works just to serve the rich man's needs, many ideas will be
destroyed. This is not constructive art. It is direct sales.
"The Thai art scene has been stagnant for twenty years now and has
nothing new to say," he added. "Most art in Thailand is determined
by the values of a certain group of people. The result is that art
in Thailand has no life. It lacks the power of art.
"The prices of paintings do not reflect their value as art. I have
never sold any painting for a high price. My first art exhibition
12 years ago remains my pride and joy because it encouraged the
birth of several young art groups. This meant the exhibition
created new things on the local art scene. This is something to be
proud of.
"Paintings by artists popular with high society may bring high
prices, but prices are so abstract. Expensive paintings are not
always good ones. It is merely speculation," Vasan claimed.
On the other hand, art academic Kukdej Khantamala of the Faculty
of Fine and Applied Arts at Chulalongkorn University, says, "The
capital flow in the local art scene is normal and no different
from in foreign countries. Marketing, promotion and speculation
are normal.
"Buying art for high prices is not uncommon. Connections between
artists and bankers are not unusual, either here or in developed
countries.
"Artists not only need the skill to create art, they must also
possess promotional skills to sell their works to collectors. They
must always attend society gatherings." he said.
Artists who want to become famous and popular with rich collectors
should have good connections with them and make friends with art
critics.
An art academic who declined to give his name said, "No one
expects an artist to live in poverty like Vincent Van Gogh, whose
paintings were worthless while he was alive and only commanded
high prices after his death."
As a result, art is being mass-produced, but is not saying
anything new. The producer-cum-artist is forced to produce due to
economic necessity.
The works of nationally famous artists, such as Magsaysay award
winners Fua Hariphitak, Prayun Uluchada and Sawat Tantisuk -- who
have now stopped working -- are becoming popular and are being
collected by speculators who intend to make a profit on them after
the artists die, said an art expert.
The price of being a patron of the arts is high. For patrons in
the high society and business circles, acquiring artworks serves
their inner desire and to display their purported artistic taste.
Some bankers have reportedly paid more than one million baht for a
single painting in exchange for the privilege of cutting the
ribbon to open an exhibition by a famous artist.
Some top bankers and businessmen, such as Amnuay, Boonchu
Rojanastien, Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda, Suthitham Jirathiwat and "Sia
Song" Vacharasrirojana, reportedly have rooms full of their
collections of works by famous artists.
Since the 1960s, huge numbers of ancient Buddha images and other
objects from the North have been swept up in a fierce hunt by
antique dealers and collectors.
"The way of life of locals has changed. Villagers no longer want
to live the old way. They want to be like city folks, and as a
result, rarely pay attention to ancient traditions and culture.
Economic necessity has prompted them to sell everything they own,
even their land, in exchange for money, a car or modern
appliances." Some of Chalong's collections.
*****
Northern villagers put up their heritage for sale
IT should be no surprise if the next generation of northern people
have no knowledge of their ancestors' way of life: Their arts,
traditions and culture are being lost and a new consumer culture
and booming tourist industry are taking their place.
The emergence of materialism and increasing poverty are the main
causes of the decline of the northern way of life, according to
Chiang Rai artist Chalong Pinitsuwan.
"The way of life of locals has changed. Villagers no longer want
to live the old way. They want to be like city folks, and as a
result, rarely pay attention to ancient traditions and culture.
Economic necessity has prompted them to sell everything they own,
even their land, in exchange for money, a car or modern
appliances."
Chalong is one of Chiang Rai's best-known artists. He makes
paintings and sculptures in the Lanna style, normally working in
his spare time. Many of his paintings and sculptures can be found
in first-class hotels in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
In the face of the invasion of western consumer culture via the
cities, Chalong has tried to produce original paintings and
sculptures and use the money they earn to buy antiques from
villages in the North.
"It is very sad to see villagers selling old things which are rare
and valuable. But they are poor and innocent."
Since the 1960s, huge numbers of ancient Buddha images and other
objects from the North have been swept up in a fierce hunt by
antique dealers and collectors.
"Travelling through poor villages, the traders buy up everything,
tribal clothes and even kitchen utensils," said Chalong, who is a
member of the Chiang Rai Provincial Culture Centre.
Some of the objects may be unimportant to people in modern society
but they can tell people a lot about the former way of life in
this area. They are the products of history.
But some things which were basic necessities in the past have
become valueless, and as a result, clever traders are buying
ancient objects from temples and communities at bargain prices.
"Ox carts, which look commonplace and may even be an eyesore when
left in front of little huts, become beautiful objects when put in
front of a first-class hotel in the city," he said.
"The next generation of northern people may not be able to tell
anyone how these things were used.
"Some traders have persuaded temple abbots to exchange ancient
objects in their temples for televisions. Some monks aren't aware
of the real value of the antiques and agree to the exchange," he
said.
Art, tradition and culture are the root of society. Once the root
is severed, people lose their knowledge of their own roots and
rapidly accept a new culture, usually from the West, aggravating
social problems such as prostitution, he claimed.
Antique dealers' money and the temptation of poor rural people by
consumer products are two of the main reasons for the demise of
the North's art, culture and tradition.
Especially affected by the economic problem are educational
institutions. Chalong, who teaches at a Chiang Rai secondary
school, said his students and their parents never pay attention to
art, culture or tradition. They do not want to waste time studying
art and culture in the classroom but would rather concentrate on
such things as computers.
"Most students want to learn art from me but they are not willing
to become artists. They are interested in learning art skills to
get jobs with companies in the city. It is rare to find a student
who wants to learn art for art's sake," he said.
Aside from the hunt for ancient objects, the boom in the
manufacture of imitation goods and the tourist industry are also
causing the collapse of northern traditions and culture.
"I've seen factories in Chiang Mai churning out imitation
antiques, paintings, sculptures and ancient tools to sell to
tourists. It's not art, but cultural suicide."
People who copy ancient art cannot be called "artists", they are
simply skilled workers, he said.
The steady disappearance of artists from Chiang Mai is an example
of the death of creativity.
Because of the tourist industry, many people in Chiang Mai regard
their own culture and traditions as goods or entertainment to sell
to tourists. As a result, Chiang Mai has contributed nothing new
to the country's art scene. The northern capital is full of
industry which copies folk art and ancient objects to meet the
demands of tourism.
Northern folk dances in Chiang Mai, for example, have become a
form of entertainment for foreign tourists, and the dancers lack
any profound knowledge of traditions and culture. Some shows have
been distorted by a lack of understanding.
The ancient northern city is even beginning to look like Bangkok.
Temples and ancient places are squeezed between modern highrises.
Ancient objects which are sold at places such as Bangkok's
Chatuchak market on weekends are fakes made by skilled workers.
"Real antiques are rare. They all disappeared from the market a
long time ago, most of them ending up in first-class hotels or the
homes of rich people," said a trader who used to sell antiques at
Chatuchak, and who declined to be named.
During the last decade when his business was booming, he would
travel to the North to hunt for antiques in the villages or to buy
them from local brokers.
"Generally people regard the stall owners at Chatuchak market as
poor people. In fact, Chatuchak is one of the country's most
popular shopping centres for rich people. Many of them visited my
shop in search of antiques. Most were land developers, hotel
owners and rich collectors," he said.
Chalong is trying to preserve culture and tradition through his
personal collection and through teaching. He said he creates
original paintings and sculpture, most of them a mixture of
contemporary and traditional Thai art.
"I don't want to produce art like a machine in a factory, copying
the same product to sell at the market," he said, showing an
unfinished gable in the Lanna style. Two completed gables lay
nearby.
"Each gable has a different pattern," he said, adding "Some people
who see my work at exhibitions ask me to make copies, but I
refuse."
Usually, his work carries higher prices than other art, about
three times more. He normally does not work to deadline.
"I tell those people [who ask for copies] that the pattern, form
and idea cannot be the same. And more importantly, I make no
promises on the completion date," he said.
"The authorities' attitude is very sad. Slums and poor people are
not shameful things. We are all human beings like them. The
struggle of the underprivileged to live in a modern society that
has no place for them is an art which is hard for rich people to
understand" The art of the poor opposite a national convention
centre
IT wasn't painted by skilled artists, but at least the slum
children's colourful mural on the corrugated metal-sheet wall
helped protect their community from eviction. The mural also made
the slum more attractive to the eye during the World Bank and IMF
conference held across the street two years ago this month.
"The real beauty of the painting was not the skill, but the
innocence of the slum children. They created art not for money but
to help their parents escape eviction," said 64-year-old Niang
Sarakham, who lives in Klong Phai Singto community.
"I have heard that rich people spend money in strange ways, and
many are happy to fork out a few million baht for abstract
paintings.
"For rich people, their problem is financial surplus, having more
than enough. So they waste money on buying pictures to be kept in
their house.
"For poor people, their problem is having less than enough. They
have no time to spend with their children, having to work hard
from sunrise to sunset."
Most people living in the slum on Ratchadaphisek Road near the
Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre are day labourers and
vendors who work in the Klong Toey port area.
These people had long lived in an area that was once full of
orchards. But they faced eviction when a project to build
Ratchadaphisek Road through their community was initiated by the
Prem Tinsulanonda administration in the early 80s, Niang said.
"A community that was once inside an area of orchards became a
roadside slum. Some people had to dismantle their shacks and move
to make way for the new road," said an old man who has lived in
the area for more than five decades.
Unfortunately, the slum on Ratchadaphisek Road became an eyesore
to the authorities in 1991 when the Anand Panyarachun government
unveiled plans to build the Queen Sirikit National Convention
Centre across from the slum for the World Bank-IMF meeting.
Under a relocation plan, 630 families were to be moved to the
suburbs. Each family would be given money and moved to Soi Onnuj
off Sukhumvit Road, where they would be able to buy a piece of
land for 660 baht a month for up to 15 years.
Some families were relocated to a 20-rai plot of land which the
City sold to the National Housing Authority for eight million
baht.
"People in the slum knew that this time, the threat of eviction
was worse than it was during the road construction," said Niang.
To resist the plan, slum people held a meeting to voice their
opinions and set up a committee to cooperate with concerned
agencies. They consulted people at the Duang Prateep Foundation in
Klong Toey slum who had similar problems to help prepare for
bargaining with the authorities.
"In a seemingly hopeless situation, the people decided to adopt a
new strategy to save their community from eviction. By sharing
their money, they funded the mural painting by slum children of
common articles in the community, such as push carts used by
vendors in Klong Toey.
"Using the vivid imaginations of the children of the slum helped
transform the corrugated metal-sheet houses into a huge,
colourful, surrealistic painting across from the Convention Centre
where the World Bank/IMF conference was held in October 1991,"
Niang said.
After a fierce struggle and growing opposition by slum people and
academics, the authorities decided to scrap the relocation plan.
B ut the bankers who attended the huge international meeting never
got to see the artwork or the slum because the authorities used a
long line of coaches to hide them from view.
"The authorities' attitude is very sad. Slums and poor people are
not shameful things. We are all human beings like them," lamented
the old man.
"The struggle of the underprivileged to live in a modern society
that has no place for them is an art which is hard for rich people
to understand."