137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok celebrates the colourful Pop-Art of artist Jirapat Tatsanasomboon in latest Art Rotation Series

Thursday 30 May 2019 15:15
In the fourth instalment of their now popular rotating art showcase, luxury boutique hotel 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok puts multi-award-winning artist Jirapat Tatsanasomboon into the spotlight.

Celebrated for his colourful Pop-Art juxtaposition of iconography from traditional Thai narratives with Western symbolism, in "Art Rotation Series Vol. 4: Jirapat Tatsanasomboon" the artist continues to explore the cultural interactions between East and West, and Modern and Traditional in a new set of artworks.

Born in 1971 in the Samut Prakran province, Jirapat uses the humour of pop art to examine the positive and negative sides of cultural exchange, confrontation, and interaction. These inter-cultural experiments have resulted in an extraordinary mix of characters and situations that evoke much dialogue in his audiences. Mythical figures from the Kingdom's epic Ramakien feature alongside Western cultural icons such as John Wayne, Barak Obama, and Marilyn Monroe among others to explore the issues of class and abuse of power. In other works, he has re-interpreted familiar paintings by celebrated masters Andy Warhol, Van Gogh and others as a commentary on Thai society.

Jirapat completed his Bachelor's Degree at Chiang Mai University with a thesis painting titled "Foreign Intervention", which was also awarded the Grand Prize for Contemporary Art in the 3rd Panasonic Contemporary Painting Exhibition in 1997. In 1999, he acquired a Master's Degree at Silapakorn University with a thesis painting titled "Green Goblin vs. Maiyarap, which was also awarded the Grand Prize in the 4th Panasonic Contemporary Painting Exhibition in 2002. Other accolades followed including awards at the Toshiba Thailand's Contemporary Art Competitions, and 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize.

He has also participated in numerous prestigious art shows in Thailand and internationally, including Asia Art Now at the Korean Cultural & Arts Foundation (2003); Tradition & Modernity in Southeast Asian Art, New York (2006); Visions of East Asia 2008 for the Olympic Games in China (2008); The Indian Art Summit (2009); Art Monaco (2010), and Arteclasica 10, Argentina (2010). In addition, his paintings were on display in ArtScience Museum in Singapore as a part of the "Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal" exhibition. He was also the only Thai artist featured in a recent book published by Thames & Hudson titled 100 Painters of Tomorrow.

Jirapat Tatsanasomboon's artworks will be on display at the Baan Borneo Club, and Louie's Tiffin Grill at 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok on level 26 from 30 May – 11 July 2019 and the exhibition is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information about the art or to enquire about sales, contact Khun Top from Farmgroup at 089-459-1545, or contact 137 Pillars Suites & Residences Bangkok at 02-079-7000 to arrange a visit to view the artworks.