RAMPANT by Sudaporn Teja & Pichai Pongsasaovapark

AAH Studio Gallery

Bangkok, Thailand

October 2020 - January 2021

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An incessant boxing bell rings to commence another boxing match of the night. It is the fight for their lives, their dignity and their prize. They fight each other without bounds. The cheering crowd drowns out the discreet opening of a Pandora’s box. Fatal and colorless haze was rampant to the crowd regardless of class, occupation, gender, or religion. It is a total disaster for all people in the country. A real fight for survival begins. Everyone’s way of life is inevitably affected. All wake up in the morning paranoid. Life and death matters seem to be closer and closer – in every second, every breath. When and how this disaster will end? This question remains and waits to be answered with anticipation.

 

RAMPANT is a duo exhibition by contemporary and abstract artists, Pichai Pongsasaovapark and Sudaporn Teja, depicting their struggles during the widespread COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. RAMPANT confronts life and death matters, overcoming fear, time constraints, and emotional balance. The exhibition is mounted at AAH STUDIO GALLERY, Suk Sawat Road, in association with prominent local Thai galleries, S.A.C. Subhashok The Arts Centre and Serindia Gallery. RAMPANT at AAH STUDIO GALLERY is also one of the pavilions of BANGKOK BIENNIAL 2020.

 

Pichai Pongsasaovapark explores his near-death experience, sickness from colon disease, and fighting for survival during the state of emergency in his artwork. His experiences during the pandemic led him to question his past behavior, time lost, and the value of his time that remains. Influenced by the interrelation between the pandemic situation, rules, and time, he has created a new series of mixed-media abstract art with symbolic representation and installation art, challenging viewers to experience, interpret, and reappraise the past.

 

Sudaporn Teja has trained her observational skills that those things around her during seclusion, and fortuitously found that fighting for survival of an adopted creature was needed. The juncture of witnessing parturition, grooming and seeing new lives grow brought small happiness and joy to her life. All anxieties seemed to shed away temporarily. The experience raised a question with the artist about the priority of emotional diversity and the bigger picture of life when she has plenty of time to ponder. Emotional balance allows simple happiness that we sometimes overlook to be enjoyed. Sudaporn has created a new series of abstract paintings, symbolic mixed media art installed with hidden significance, allowing viewers to engage intimately with her art.