Kamol Tassananchalee: Thailand's Emissary of Art | Link TV
Title
Kamol Tassananchalee: Thailand's Emissary of Art
Asian Accents: This article is part of an ongoing series that explores the diverse range of artistic influences from Asia in the arts and culture of Southern California.
From around 2,000 years ago, Buddhist monks from India braved rugged mountain paths and desolate desert routes from India to Eastern Asia to spread the teachings of the Buddha, a prince who left his home to become a monk and eventually attained spiritual enlightenment. With them, these devotees carried sacred texts and images that helped explicate and illustrate the complexities of the Buddha's philosophy of moderation, detachment and compassion. For centuries after them, Buddhist monks and teachers have continued to travel to foreign lands to share their path to enlightenment, often using imagery, both figural and symbolic, to overcome linguistic challenges.
The spirit of these emissaries of enlightenment can be seen today in the life and work of Kamol Tassananchalee, an artist from Thailand who traveled as an art student to Southern California, became well established here in the 1970s. Since then, he has journeyed back and forth between Thailand and the Southern California and beyond as an artist, teacher and a Buddhist. In 1997, he was granted the title of National Artist of Thailand, a title which would have made his grandfather -- court artist to King Rama IV (r.1851-1868) -- very proud. The title means that outside Thailand, Tassananchalee serves as a sort of cultural ambassador, sharing the Thai artistic spirit overseas, while at home encouraging fellow Thai artists and his students to draw inspiration from both their own roots and overseas.
Over nearly five decades as an artist, Tassananchalee has been first and foremost a global artist, masterfully introducing elements of his cultural and spiritual heritage into his abstract paintings, from Buddhist symbolism to Thai kite flying. Many of his early paintings, including a series depicting the footprints of the Buddha made direct references to the Buddha. Before there were iconic representations of the Buddha, his teachings and spiritual power were symbolized by a wheel, a lotus, or his footprints. Tassananchalee's representations of his footprints in his abstract paintings were likely more than simply honoring his own Buddhist heritage but also illustrating the fact that the Buddha's teachings have extended well beyond his native Asia.
In recent years, however, his paintings have been more obscure in their references to Asian philosophy and largely transcend culture, religion and location. Primarily abstract paintings but also monoprints, his two-dimensional works occasionally contain creatures, photographic self-portraits and artists' tools. In an exhibition at LA Artcore's Brewery Annex in honor of his 70th birthday, a collection of his most recent works illustrates the artist's broad artistic and cultural range. In two series of large paintings, "The Four Elements" and "The Universe," the artist is at his most spiritual, drawing from Asian cosmology and also from his own dream world. "When I am sleeping I always dream of my creation," explains the artist. "And then I work on the new concept in the dream after I awake."
In "The Universe #1," Tassananchalee has created a lavishly structured realm, made up of vivid natural tones, a scattering of primal forms of circles and ovals, and rich textures formed by combing through paint and sprinkling sand and earth onto the surface. With its solid structure and inviting tones, his universe here emanates stability and serenity. It is a realm where a diversity of pattern, form, color and texture can co-exist harmoniously.
In his "Four Elements" series, fire, water, wood and earth, the elements that make up life are implied by primal forms, strong colors and rich textures. At the center are bold ovals, some concentric and others in clusters, rendered primarily in earthy, woody blacks and browns and a fiery blood red. Surrounded by combed lines of swirling waves, they suggest cosmic eggs afloat on a restless ocean. In several of these works, in which birdlike creatures nestling within appear to be awaiting birth, there is a strong sense of potential -- potential life, potential awakening, potential liberation. In painting #3 in this series, we spot an owl, its feathers wittily outlined with porcupine quills, and around it, the surface textured by mixing sand into the paint. By including such details, Tassananchalee appears to unify the ethereal cosmological imagery with our natural world.
In another painting in the series, a group of four ovals are rendered in only black and white, the combed lines to form unique patterns evoking fingerprints. The subdued color palette of this work along with the orderly composition and bold, primal markings create an effect of solidity and calm. We sense that ancient forces are at work to maintain harmony in the universe.
At 70 years old, the Thai National Artist appears to enjoy great harmony in his own universe, living between different cultural, spiritual and artistic traditions. "I still tread the path I started," he reveals. "I take pleasure in living my life as a Thai artist and I reflect my thoughts about past and present in my art." His joy is particularly evident in a new series of playful monoprints, in which he incorporates the various tools of an artist, often presenting them in the foreground of the composition. In the work "Palette Knife,"* the artist's tool is placed upright in the center of the print, like a candle in the darkness. The image seems to echo the words of the 9th century Japanese Buddhist priest Kobo Daishi, who said, "Art is what reveals to us the state of perfection."
Kamol Tassananchalee's work is on view at LA Artcore Brewery Annex until January 30, 2014.
Dig this story? Sign up for our newsletter to get unique arts & culture stories and videos from across Southern California in your inbox. Also, follow Artbound on Facebook and Twitter.
Support the Articles you Love
We are dedicated to providing you with articles like this one. Show your support with a tax-deductible contribution to Link TV. After all, public media is meant for the public. It belongs to all of us.
Keep Reading
-
The Yurok people care for all of their family members, and their kin — including condors and salmon — reciprocate the care.
-
Places like Taylor Yard give us a window to explore ways to balance the city's critical needs for green space, livable space and climate change strategies.
-
All around the United States is a 100-mile border zone where one can be searched and one's things seized. Policies way beyond what the constitution allows is regularly implemented. Artists drew on select sites. Here's what they realized.
-
Created by policymakers in the 1940s, the border zone extends 100 miles inland from the nation’s land and sea boundaries and houses nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population. It's also where the 4th amendment rights of the people have been subverted.
- 1 of 63
- next ›
Full Episodes
-
Artbound
Artbound
S10 E1: Masters of Modern Design - The Art of the Japanese American Experience
Season 10, Episode 1
From the typeface of “The Godfather” book cover to the Noguchi table, the influence of Japanese American artists and designers in postwar American art and design is unparalleled. Learn how the World War II incarceration affected their lives and creations.
-
Artbound
Artbound
S10 E2: Heath Ceramics - The Making of a California Classic
Season 10, Episode 2
"Artbound" looks at the dinnerware of Heath Ceramics and a design that has stood the test of time since the company began in the late 1940’s.
-
Artbound
Artbound
S10 E3: Dia de Los Muertos / Day of the Dead
Season 10, Episode 3
Inspired by Oaxacan traditions, Dia de Los Muertos was brought to L.A. in the '70s as a way to enrich and reclaim Chicano identity. It has since grown in proportions and is celebrated around the world.
-
Artbound
Artbound
S10 E4: How Sweet The Sound - Gospel In Los Angeles
Season 10, Episode 4
Gospel music would not be what it is today if not for the impact left by Los Angeles in the late 60’s and early 70’s, a time defined by political movements across the country.
-
Artbound
Artbound
S10 E5: Jeffrey Deitch's Los Angeles
Season 10, Episode 5
A behind-the-scenes look at the contemporary art world through the eyes of a legendary art dealer and curator, Jeffrey Deitch.
- 1 of 11
- next ›
Comments