An art show with threads
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An art show with threads
CAMILLA RUSSELL
`Laos Transformation', the `ethnic map' designed by Frederic Molenac.
`Pious Memory or Trampling of the Cross' by Christian Lacroix.
In a rare, cross-cultural artistic presentation, the Jim Thompson Art Centre,
Alliance Francaise Bangkok and the French Embassy are jointly hosting
Metissages: A Crossbreeding of Contemporary Art and Textiles at the Jim Thompson
Art Centre.
The exhibition features over 60 textile creations employing weaving, embroidery,
lace-making and fabric printing from 49 artists including seven Thais. The
European pieces on display were sourced from the French National Fund for
Contemporary Art and private collections.
"The Metissages exposition is conceived around works arising from a dialogue
between craftsmen and artists, but the presentation includes other types of
creations, such as those conceived and executed by the artists," explained the
show's curator, Frenchman Yves Sabourin, at a press conference. "Subsequently,
finding that some traditional or antique pieces possessed modern character and
craftsmanship, I was able to bridge the space between antique and modern."
Metissages is a travelling exhibition that has visited 17 European countries
since its debut in Paris nine years ago. This is the first time the exhibition
has been shown outside of Europe, with Indonesia and China at the top of the
list of Asian countries that will host it next.
The exhibition will alter slightly with each showing as each country will place
the work of its own textile artists alongside the European pieces.
`Penetration' by Annette Messager.
"The aim [of the exhibition] is to study ancient techniques and combine them
with modernity," said Sabourin. "From this experience ... it can be observed
that any discourse on aesthetics which tends to reduce creative space to a
single notion and a single definition is to be banished. It is from diversity
that artistic projects emerge and flourish."
For the exhibition held in Bangkok, a selection of traditional Thai textiles
chosen from the collections of the Sa Ban-Nga Textile Museum, the Ancient City,
Kachama and the Mae Fah Luang Foundation has been included.
Sabourin noted that the majority of the Thai textiles exhibited are antique
artefacts. These include a tapestry created in 1857 that belonged to Kruba
Srivichai and a puppet theatre figurine by the late Krae Suppawanic entitled Jao
Ngoh, which was sourced from a private collection in Canada. "[The figurine] is
dressed as a prince, a metamorphosis of a man whose beauty is [on the] interior
and therefore invisible," commented Sabourin.
Only one of the Thai displays, that of Chiang Mai artist Kachama, is by a living
artist. Her display, Cross of Changes, demonstrates the complex possibilities of
using silk threads, traditional textiles and samples of Hmong embroidery to
create a wall hanging.
The European artists whose works are featured in Metissages are a diverse array
of individuals who, through the use of textiles in conjunction with contrasting
mediums, cultivate a wide range of artistic dialogues.
"The artists, of mixed renown, have been chosen according to the most open
criteria. The techniques are considered according to three criteria: The
artist's desire, the originality of the technique and the ability to create an
interpretation," explained Sabourin.
Among the artists whose work is featured in the exhibition are Martine Aballea,
Catie De Balmann, Valerie Belin, Renato Bezzera De Mello, Olga Boldyreff,
Veronique Boudier and the duo Anne-Lise Broyer and Nicolas Comment, to name a
few.
Veronique Boudier's `Sun Dress'
"Anne-Lise Broyer and Nicolas Comment, both photographers, have made Fading, a
work dedicated to the 'Prague' spirit and inspired by traditional Czech
embroidery," said Sabourin, "Valerie Belin, [another] photographer, has sequins
and silver cannetille thread embroidered directly onto one of her black and
white photographs to give sparkle to Chips #1. Frederic Molenac, with total
commitment to a project in Laos, creates a new urban ethnic map [in Laos
Transformation], mixing Asia and the West through Hmong embroidery and Yao
tassels."
Sabourin also paid homage to Jim Thompson and two contemporary artists by
designing two new pieces for the collection.
"I conceived two [artworks] that I dedicated to the man of the cockatoos," said
Sabourin. "The first, La Colonne Sans Fin - Homage a Constantin Bancusi [The
Endless Column - Homage to Constantin Bancusi] is composed of silk bobbins from
a factory in Korat, and Le Mur de Lumiere - Homage a Bruce Nauman [The Wall of
Light - Homage to Bruce Nauman] is made of brightly coloured silk scarves, seen
on the shelves of a shop in Bangkok and stacked like bricks to make a wall."
An exploration of creativity inspired by textiles and individual expression, the
event promises to enthral viewers with a plethora of unique fabric compositions.
"The presentation of this exhibition can be exclusively perceived from a
horizontal viewpoint through several visual fields. There is no hierarchy, no
first, no last. And even the little shadow, at the far end of the path in the
woods, has its importance, too," Sabourin cryptically concluded.
'Metissages: A Crossbreeding of Contemporary Art and Textiles' will be shown at
the Jim Thompson Art Centre until June 17. For more information, visit
http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/, email artc...@jimthompsonhouse.com or
contact Penwadee Nophaket Manont on 02-612-6741 or Somsuda Piamsamrit on
02-219-2911.
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