|
During
the exhibition at The
CMU 60th Anniversary
World Master's
Watercolor Exposition
,
held from January 6-31, 2025 at CMU art center in Chiang Mai Province, which is an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Chiang Mai University's founding, I had the opportunity to interview Udom Chimpakdee, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, again as the project leader to review the progress of the success of the first activity of presenting the progress of Thai artists working with international artists. It is a story of collaboration between invited artists from Thailand, including new artists who applied to show their skills, and invited artists from around the world. 12 artists from IWM (International Watercolor Masters), an organization of watercolor artists based in England, famous artists from Canada, professional artists from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Malaysia, all of whom are world-class masters who came to show their watercolor skills in the topic "Lanna Landscape", which is the first watercolor art project organized by the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University. It is a story of watercolor art, which is the first project that has received attention from tourists, schools, and institutions who heard the news and requested to visit in large numbers.
In this interview, I
would like the readers
to get to know
Associate Professor
Udom Chimpakdee, the
founder of the WMW
(World Master's
Watercolor Exposition)
project, which was
first held in Chiang
Mai, Thailand. On the
opening day, we had the
person who approved the
construction of the
Chiang Mai University
Art center, His
Excellency Mr. Chuan
Leekpai, Privy
Councilor and former
President of the
National Assembly as
well as the 20th and
two times Prime
Minister and he
presided over the
opening ceremony on
January 10, 2025. He
joined in painting a
large watercolor at the
event as he himself
liked drawing. He liked
drawing cartoons and
line drawings at a
master level. When he
returned to preside
over the opening
ceremony of this
exhibition, he praised
the work and looked
very happy. In the year
the project was
approved, four other
institutions in
Thailand also built art
museums. Chiang Mai
University Art and
Culture Exhibition Hall
was established in 1998
with the intention of
establishing an art and
culture exhibition hall
in the region to be a
center for activities
related to local arts
and culture in the
North, including
organizing exhibitions,
performances, and
organizing various
activities.
JY.
I would like to ask about your identity and inspiration with
art in Chiang Mai, where you came to study at Chiang Mai
University and returned to teach at Chiang Mai University again.
What is the main inspiration for your art?
UC.
I was born in the South in Surat Thani Province, from a
family with many siblings. When I chose to study art in high
school, my family supported me even though I didn't know what I
would end up as. You can see that my family saw my potential in
what I liked to study. Choosing to study for a bachelor's degree at
Chiang Mai University to study in the Faculty of Fine Arts is
considered to be the best experience of my life from the South to
Chiang Mai, which is the northernmost university in Thailand.
There are two inspirations. First, I am interested in and observing
the nature around me.
Second, from the culture, society, and lifestyle of many artists,
both their lives and their works. Many famous artists, for
example, Ajarn Montien Boonma, come to teach at Chiang Mai
University. In addition to organizing Songkran and Loi Krathong
festivals, Chiang Mai also always has installations in every corner
of the city, created by students and small grants, which is
surprising to both Chiang Mai people and tourists.
Many progressive teachers and after graduating from abroad, he
has worked in art to help develop the city, and he has created a
variety of interesting works that add value to the local area.
Ajarn Montien Boonma is a role model teacher who interested me
in sculpture. A contemporary Thai artist whose works have been
exhibited in many prominent international art exhibitions and
festivals during his lifetime. Let me give you a brief history of my
teacher, Montien Boonma. After graduating with a bachelor's
degree in painting from Silpakorn University in 1978, Montien
went to study sculpture at the École nationale supérieure des
beaux-arts and returned to study for a master's degree in painting
at Silpakorn University. During this time, Montien changed from
working with two-dimensional paintings to focusing on creating
various forms of art, including paintings, sculptures, mixed
media, and installation art, using ordinary materials. Or local
materials found in nature such as soil, ash, rice straw and various
waste materials to create art, which was influenced by the Arte
Povera art movement in Italy, which took valueless and worthless
materials that are everywhere, including collecting old, leftover
and dilapidated things to create art. However, he developed and
expanded his ideas until it became a unique form of art that
reflects concepts about nature, society and the advancement of
industry under the economic and social development of Thailand
in the 1990s, which was considered a very advanced art form at
that time.
However, after his wife fell ill with cancer, he turned to the
process of thinking and questioning Buddhist philosophy about
the meaning of birth, life and death, and combined the concepts
of herbs and hospitals in the Mahayana sect of the ancient Khmer
Empire with contemporary art. He was one of the first Thai artists
to combine Western conceptual art with Eastern philosophy and
Buddhism in a profound and harmonious way.
In addition to his role as an artist, Montien also played a
prominent role as an art lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts,
Chiang Mai University, who initiated an art teaching approach
that emphasized clear and rational concepts, allowing students to
explore and find new possibilities in creating art and Montien
supported and encouraged students and fellow lecturers to come
together to create artistic activities such as "Chiang Mai Social
Placement Festival", which was connected to the community and
stepped out of the art gallery area to be displayed in public areas
of Chiang Mai during 1992-1995, eventually becoming an
important milestone in the contemporary art circle of Thailand.
After his wife passed away, Montien moved to become a full-time
lecturer and a part-time lecturer at many universities and was
involved in the creation of many artistic personnel and later
created works that were a great inspiration to people in the art
circle.
For over 20 years of creating art, Ajarn Montien Boonma has
devoted his body and soul to working in art and traveling to
exhibit art both domestically and internationally.
Even when he was seriously ill and his body was not working, he
continued to create art until his last moment. Montien Boonma
left this world on August 17, 2000 at the age of 47. It was a great
loss for the contemporary art world of Thailand and the world.
JY.
How did you start your path as an artist?
UC.
It started in 1989. I came to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts,
Chiang Mai University. I had the opportunity to talk to artists and
teachers. I studied the history of Eastern, Western and
contemporary art. This made me think that being an artist is an
interesting ideal path. Working with art is happy and can convey
the energy of happiness to others. Art can experiment and create
new innovations.
JY.
Which artists or works do you admire and have influenced
your thinking?
UC.
The work of the chair and wax, Fat Chair, 1964-1985 by
Joseph Beuys, a German artist. Influential Thinkers of the World
The series of works, Venus of Bangkok by Montien Boonma, is an
installation art that takes the Western concept of the goddess
Venus but sarcastically turns it into a tribute to the female laborer
heroine who works hard to build houses for city people, using
simple materials to represent meaning, such as cement buckets,
discarded metal sheets from construction, and wooden crates.
After graduating from Chiang Mai University, I received advice
from Professor Montien Boonma again in short words to continue
my master's degree at Silpakorn University. At that time, my
portfolio had many works and photographs ready to study at
Silpakorn University from working together on many past pieces
and receiving a Master's degree in Sculpture, Faculty of Painting,
Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University.
This was a preparation for me to come and teach at the Faculty of
Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University until now.
JY.
What is your creative process? From start to finish
UC.
I got interested in watercolor painting again from my trip to
America. In the Young Artist Talent project, the Office of
Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC), Ministry of Culture,
Director of the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, joined
forces with the Thai Arts Council of the United States, led by Dr.
Kamol Tasananchalee, National Artist in Visual Arts, who is
known as "Artist of Two Hemispheres", to visit various museums
and give lectures on art. They traveled to the United States to
further develop their advanced workshops and study art. "The
new generation of artists were eager to visit museums, experience
the artwork of world-class artists with their own eyes, and gain
knowledge of art from Dr. Kamol Tasananchalee to apply. Along
the way, art workshops were organized in natural areas and the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a future Olympic city. Inside the
Coliseum, there are outstanding architecture and sculptures,
which made me interested in watercolor painting again. I gained
life experiences and was inspired to create works on the path of
art. It is part of developing the potential of new artists and to
improve the project's training methods so that youth can develop
both academically and practically for maximum efficiency and
effectiveness. This project is still ongoing. I stayed at Professor
Kamol's house. His wife, Nuansri Tasananchalee, cooked Thai
food for me and the artist from Thailand every day. She is a great
chef for every one more than 15 years.
JY.
How did you deal with the challenges in the creative process?
UC.
I traveled to many countries to work, for example:
Cornelia, Croatia 2009
Into the Inside:
Nakanojo Biennale Japan 2015
The Goose with 5 Eggs 2024 Chengdu, China
Special lecturer abroad:
2023 "Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts undergraduate and
graduate students the 34th graduate exhibition" and "sculpture
seminar"
Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts sculpture
JY.
Which work are you most proud of and why?
UC.
I am proud of all the works I have worked on and exhibited,
as well as the ones I have won.
Year Prizes and Awards Locations:
2010 Daiko Foundation Research and Study Program (5 months)
Japan
2006 Silpa Bhirasri Prize, Award Winner and Art Exhibition
Silpakorn University Gallery
2005 Simon Prize Visiting Artist, Workshop and Solo Exhibition
Australian National University Canberra, Australia
1998 Second Prize, 44th National Art Exhibition Top Award
Winner, Thai Farmers Bank, National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Thai Farmers Bank Gallery,
Contemporary Art – Exhibition Bangkok, Thailand
1997 Top Award Winner, Toshiba Art Exhibition National Gallery,
Bangkok, Thailand
1995 Top Award Winner, SVOA Art Exhibition Bangkok, Thailand
1994 Award Winner, Toshiba Bring the Good Things to Life
Exhibition Silpakorn University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
1993 Third Prize, 37th National Art Exhibition National Gallery,
Bangkok, Thailand
Udom Chimpukdee is an owner Makok Art Space 445 Moo7
Numphrae Hangdong district , ChiangMai, Thailand
|
