For Artist Challenge starting today, it's a living iconic Thai/Southeast Asian artist, "Thawan Duchanee". You may not have heard of him in the West. Thawan is one of the most well known artists in Thailand and Southeast Asia. His works are strong, bold, masculine, and many of his paintings contain only two colors, red and black.
In my personal opinion, he seems to be obsessed with wild animals, which are present in most of his works in one form or another. Thawan likes to dress like an Eastern sage of the old days, and talk like a philosopher. His house is full of animal bones and dark wood. Some people here treat him more like a walking god rather than a man, and he seems to like it :-) While I admire his works, personally I prefer something more feminine, easy to the eyes. In any case, his works are interesting to study.
You can see his biography and some of his works here...they include paintings, sculptures, architectural designs, and whatever he cars to produce.
The challenge ends on Sunday 12 Aug Midnight, London Time. Please tag "Challenge-Thawan".
Please disregard the previous Artist Challenge posted by myself a couple of days ago. Apparently the selected artist has to be "iconic". I just hope that selecting a living Asian Artist, rather than a well-known Western master, fits the rules.
Nod, I have actually seen some of this work, I saw a presentation of a photogapher that had actually met with him in his studio. Not sure if any were published, but it was interesting to hear about.
1) Note the dateline and the tag. So at the latest you have to upload the photo by Sunday12 Aug midnight, London time (midnight can be confusing, so let's say the night that when you wake up its Monday). Tag "Challenge-Thawan" in the tag space after you have uploaded the photo. Remember these and your photos won't miss deadline and will be viewed by the organizer (this week it's me).
2) Go to the websites provided above. There are many sections. I would recommend browsing through all of them quickly then read the biography and, if any, a brief summary of the artist. Once you know a bit about his background, how he was brought up and where he was educated, you can more or less GUESS factors influencing the artist's view of the world and (sometimes) why he paints the way he paints :-)
[PS - some remarks in the example below are pretty unnecessary and rude to the artist I selected. But I will leave it like this. Just get a kick out of mocking someone I admire once in a while...]
(This point 3 below is just a way to go about it.... may be all wronge)
3) Visit online gallery to see his styles. Most of the painting are a bit 2 dimensional (IMHO), have bold strokes rather than carefully painted with small brush. You can also see that most paintings contain wild animals in one form or another, and most of them are aggressive - almost like they can jump out of the painting and tear you apart. Animal paintings are not new in Thai arts, but the degree of aggressiveness is akin to "spiritual tattoos" that people here in Thailand have on their bodies for protections (some believe that tattoo performed by certain people can prevent bullets entering their bodies. There are a few documentary about this.) Anyway, where am I. Guess I got a bit carried away again. ...So, paintings, bold colors, aggressive animals about to jump out and eat you alive... why? And red and black...why? You can to a certain degree the personality of an artist from his work. If I have to say what the artist is like I'd say he is talented and confident, but also has masculine complex or wants to stress his masculine side, and wants to be seen that his brain is wired differently from most people (of course it is, otherwise he wouldn't be this famous). He dressed in a way to stand out and make a point to be different can be an ego issue (or nothing, and just a way to express that he is proud of the traditional dress, refuses to change with time and fashion). Why wearing long hair and long beard? This is Thailand where it's hot most of the year. Long hair and long beard is agony. Again, a statement. What kind of statement you will have to find out by yourself. One point though - Many Asian artists have ego as big as Disney's globes that Japanese tourists take their kiku-kiku photos !!
Ok, now you think you know a bit about the man, the artist. What I would do is strip his personalities apart and reassemble him like playing Lego. His hair tells you something, his pants tell you another, his bead yet another. You get a complex personality, high ego, confident, but at the same time probably needs to reconfirm or enhance his maleness with strong brush paintings of red and black with wild aggressive animals , etc. (This assessment may be completely wrong, but just to give an idea). All the bones he collected and used to decorate his dark wooden high-ceiling house (where I wouldn't spend a night) is a display of his unique style, and probably a strong urge to be seen as unique and remain unique. Being different is important to him.
Look through his works again, and imagine yourself to have the artist's characteristics. How would you paint, and what kind of photos would you take?
@nod This is a fantastic challenge and I really glad you have chosen an artist that is new to us from the east. It is wonderful that you have taken this route, and of course there are many cultures.
@jsw0109 This is super. Love it. Wonderful and actually a very intriguing piece of work. To me, the main cow in the middle is funny and has an innocent surprise look. The patterns below is interesting and strong, especially with that black swirling shape on the bottom right, with just a touch of yellow. Love the sun and the barb wire, may be it's just a design but somehow it can be interpreted as a cow surprised at his freedom after breaking free (as in Animal Farm).
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
For a newbie, can you explain how the Artist's challenge works? Or point me in the direction of a thread that might explain it. Thanks!
1) Note the dateline and the tag. So at the latest you have to upload the photo by Sunday12 Aug midnight, London time (midnight can be confusing, so let's say the night that when you wake up its Monday). Tag "Challenge-Thawan" in the tag space after you have uploaded the photo. Remember these and your photos won't miss deadline and will be viewed by the organizer (this week it's me).
2) Go to the websites provided above. There are many sections. I would recommend browsing through all of them quickly then read the biography and, if any, a brief summary of the artist. Once you know a bit about his background, how he was brought up and where he was educated, you can more or less GUESS factors influencing the artist's view of the world and (sometimes) why he paints the way he paints :-)
[PS - some remarks in the example below are pretty unnecessary and rude to the artist I selected. But I will leave it like this. Just get a kick out of mocking someone I admire once in a while...]
(This point 3 below is just a way to go about it.... may be all wronge)
3) Visit online gallery to see his styles. Most of the painting are a bit 2 dimensional (IMHO), have bold strokes rather than carefully painted with small brush. You can also see that most paintings contain wild animals in one form or another, and most of them are aggressive - almost like they can jump out of the painting and tear you apart. Animal paintings are not new in Thai arts, but the degree of aggressiveness is akin to "spiritual tattoos" that people here in Thailand have on their bodies for protections (some believe that tattoo performed by certain people can prevent bullets entering their bodies. There are a few documentary about this.) Anyway, where am I. Guess I got a bit carried away again. ...So, paintings, bold colors, aggressive animals about to jump out and eat you alive... why? And red and black...why? You can to a certain degree the personality of an artist from his work. If I have to say what the artist is like I'd say he is talented and confident, but also has masculine complex or wants to stress his masculine side, and wants to be seen that his brain is wired differently from most people (of course it is, otherwise he wouldn't be this famous). He dressed in a way to stand out and make a point to be different can be an ego issue (or nothing, and just a way to express that he is proud of the traditional dress, refuses to change with time and fashion). Why wearing long hair and long beard? This is Thailand where it's hot most of the year. Long hair and long beard is agony. Again, a statement. What kind of statement you will have to find out by yourself. One point though - Many Asian artists have ego as big as Disney's globes that Japanese tourists take their kiku-kiku photos !!
Ok, now you think you know a bit about the man, the artist. What I would do is strip his personalities apart and reassemble him like playing Lego. His hair tells you something, his pants tell you another, his bead yet another. You get a complex personality, high ego, confident, but at the same time probably needs to reconfirm or enhance his maleness with strong brush paintings of red and black with wild aggressive animals , etc. (This assessment may be completely wrong, but just to give an idea). All the bones he collected and used to decorate his dark wooden high-ceiling house (where I wouldn't spend a night) is a display of his unique style, and probably a strong urge to be seen as unique and remain unique. Being different is important to him.
Look through his works again, and imagine yourself to have the artist's characteristics. How would you paint, and what kind of photos would you take?
Thank you!
My interpretation of Thawan Duchanne's work.