I had the opportunity to interview Kitti Pholsakkwa after the Songkran festival. When he was chosen to draw a picture for a special issue of the Thairath newspaper in Thailand, he chose the picture of King Bhumibol Adulyadej from the King's university application, a 60 x45 cm size painting, oil on linen.

From his inspiration, he told me: "The King was still in his youth. It's so beautiful that I had to keep that newspaper until now." I found the artist who had painted. the twelve pictures from the performance entitled "The Father of Thai Skill Standard". He said that he loves the King. At that time, the Phra Dabos Foundation set an exhibition with 12 pictures that came to be a luxury event in the calendar year 2016.

In an exhibition in honor of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej̶̶—The Father of Thai Skill Standard 2016 at BITEC Bangna, 11-14 May 2016, Sumipol Corporation Co., Ltd.—he was honored to be an exhibitor.

Kitti Pholsakkwa has also written about the past to the present, reflecting on his honest feelings as a Thai citizen for the King.

Here is  an interview with him.

JY. It helps to be inspired by your current work. I would like you to talk about your background and the work that you have done.

KP. I am a country man living in the countryside. How I feel about the King reflects my talking directly. This is the reason why I created a page  on Facebook. Moreover, I also have an ongoing project to publish a book of the King's portrait collection and a book of selected teachings and speeches of the King as well as another set of the King's portraits  to raise money for the Phra Dabos foundation. All of these projects started before his passing. Although the King passed away, I will not give up my intention and I will move forward to my goal." 

For the King's kindness and generosity towards artists, I have tried to follow and implement the King's teachings and speeches to good use and already saw a favorable outcome. I would like people or at least his family members to do the same as him.

If we only listen to the King's teachings and speeches without practicing them in a real situation, we might impress little and the result is not clear. But if we practice them, the result will be clearer. As I was one of the people who practiced them, I would like to spread them to other people or at least my children and my family members. In my humble opinion, the King's Sufficiency Economy theory could help us a lot. It teaches us to understand ourselves and stand on the middle path in Buddhism. If we can do this, everything in life will be peaceful. No more, no less and reasonable. After the King's passing, many felt they lacked someone to depend on. There is no longer a King Bhumibol Adulyadej but his teachings are still here. If we follow his teachings, it will feel like he still lives and hasn't gone anywhere far from us." 

JY. Please tell me about your life, family, work, and experience.

KP. My family is in Loei Province, Northeast Thailand. I was raised with my grandmother because my parents had broken up. My Grandmother always took me to the temple, we stayed overnight there.

When I went into the vocational field of fine arts in Loei Province, I decided to travel to Bangkok, I wanted  to study painting at Poh Chang Academy of Arts  

I studied and worked at that time. I worked with portrait drawing at the MBK Center. After that I continued to study at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi Pratumthani Province. I worked in Bangkok for more than ten years.

Loei Province is the province with the best weather in Thailand. The height of the area is made up of pine forest. The weather is cold all year round so natural plants are different from other places in Thailand. One can grow rubber trees as well. And it's a source of mountain climbing excursions for young people. Loei is a province where the Mekong River flows. I decided to marry a woman in the same province and thought of farming and gardening but being an artist, my inner voice called me to return to the job I used to do with painting in Bangkok.

The turning point of my life was my attention to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. I had sent a painting to the contest to receive the award 2nd best prize "84th Anniversary Thammarat Thipata.i" After that, for the paintings about his work, I researched details from my love for the King and my faith. I striver to make pictures come alive.

JY. Please tell me about the important drawings that you made. It is a change of view of the work, and how to implement it as a practice.

KP. When following I was able to draw pictures to suit the honor of His Majesty the King, who had created more than 4000 projects to help the Thai population, projects due to the royal initiative. There is a non-profit organization in Thailand that details this:
http://km.rdpb.go.th/Knowledge/Page/1#

The King always visited the people to see their progress. Each project is a collection of initiatives and philanthropic research. We can see him traveling to every region of the country. to elevate the well-being of the Thai people in the cities and among the hill tribes They had to change from growing opium to winter crops. It was an ongoing project for a long time. The King studied Dharma. It made me think I will have to work according to the King's example, based on the principles of nationality, principles of religion and the role of the monarch.

I started working more systematically. When applying the principles of the Dharma to work called the Dharma 8, referring to the nature of the world, the nature of the world that dominates the animal world and the animal world must follow the nature, which is recorded in the Tripitaka. Satisfaction of a man's fortune means reaping benefits.

Rank means receiving a higher rank. Has great power

Praise is to hear, to hear, to praise, to admire, to admire.

Happiness is the comfort of the body, the comfort, the joy, the pleasure, the exhilaration.

Human dissatisfaction, degradation, means losing a fortune, unable to survive.

Decay means being reduced to greatness.

To gossip means to be blamed for bad things, criticized or be blamed for the damage.

Suffering is suffering, suffering from the body, suffering from the heart.

I started to draw pictures of the Noble monks, all of them who are well known, dozens of them. We must study and read the teachings of each one.

In the end, I found that doing everything in the works was in the best interest as friends in this world. They have lived a happy life together

My work has become more systematic. I have a philosophy of life.

I always think of others first and adhere to the principles of working for the nation, for the religion and the monarchy And I'm more interested in national history, I followed the King ordained. He studied the Dharma and worked hard from morning till evening, Traveled tirelessly. It is the King who works for the people all the time. This great lesson has made me understand the Dharma about the abolition of the world. In the year 2019, I attended the 2nd Art Exhibition for Refugees.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition, August 3, 2019. at the Museum of Contemporary Thai Art (MOCA BANGKOK), a portrait of King Rama X, size 140x180 cm.

My drawing is not just a portrait, but writing from my soul. I had planned to do a book project bringing the history and the doctrine of the Noble Monks and their practice both in Thai and foreign languages to be used as a medium to build understanding. My goal is that it would be made into an animated movie.

I participated in and organized an exhibition of nude art at the Museum of Contemporary Thai Art (MOCA BANGKOK) in August 2020, as a portrait of women in Buddhism. Image title Mrs. Pathumwadee 2020 Oil on linen technique, size 150 × 100 cm.

In addition to paint, I will also have a sculpture. The statue of the Noble Monks as the idol in the form of a being. To be an artist I would be able to do the project for sure.

JY. What else do you want to share with readers and Thai society?

KP. In the past, I used to ask myself: What was life for? What is the purpose of life, for what? What is the purpose of life? Until I came to study the royal duties of King Rama IX. To know and realize that the thought that had been questioned  What is the purpose of life? changed immediately because I asked the wrong question from the beginning. So I asked a new question: What should I live for? I began to know my true duties in reality, I firmly believe that everyone should seek the right path of life. Live life right. That is the purpose of life.