Bangkok--25 Feb--Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok
Eight of the world's most renowned artists for modern and contemporary street art came together to create a unique live painting of "Paradise on the River" only at Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok.
This themed painting, which flows like the current of the River of Kings, is located on the corridor near the hotel's Health Club between the Shangri-La Wing and the Krungthep Wing.
Coming from different backgrounds and experiences and having different inspirations for their paintings, artists from The Netherlands, Romania, Greece, Korea, Japan and Thailand, jointly created an unimaginable art piece that reflects the lifestyle along the banks of the Chao Phraya River.
Dutch artist Daan Botlek painted the majestic mountains of water waves for the group's art effort. He did his best to capture the ephemeral beauty of these crashing crests. The waves are magnificent and demonstrate a form of moisture to the Chao Phraya River. They do not remind one of the Thames River in London, but seeing the hustle and bustle of Bangkok make one appreciate this river as an important infrastructure of Bangkok's economy. Botlek is famous for his wide and impressively achieved wall paintings that labeled him as a street artist as his body of works is diverse, complex and becomes meaningful only when considered as a whole.
Meanwhile, two Romanians artists, Aitch and Saddo, came up with an illustration of plants with flowers and a bird on the same art piece.
Aitch, an artist and illustrator, sees movement and habit in flowers, especially the way they dance. Their stems have pliability or stiffness, as well as colour and dimension. Her inspiration came from trees, plants and water. The water gives moisture to all kinds of plants near it, making them fruitful. Where there is water, there will always be trees and flowers.
Aitch started drawing weird chubby fantastic creatures during her studies at the University of Art and Design in Timisoara, Romania. Her artistic work ranges from pink, cute and, elegant to sometimes creepy, semi-religious, bizarre characters, mixed in surrealistic sets.
A preening peacock, a playful finch, a clever crow, a robin or an osprey, all are charmingly decorative for average viewers. For an artist like Saddo, birds are part of a rich visual symbolism. Water is one of the key factors of an ecosystem, which creates relationships between organisms and the environment. He chose to illustrate an animal, a bird in this case, as it can fly to all places and can be seen in places close to the water.
Saddo learned basics of drawing in an art university in Cluj Napoca, Romania. He has exhibited several times in various cities, including Berlin, Vienna, Ottawa, New York, Los Angeles and Copenhagen from 2006 until present.
Korean artist Daehyun Kim painted two human beings that turn real life people into seemingly 2D works of art. In some ways, he is a great figure painter. He takes a classical concept, which is water pouring down from the shoulders, inspired when thinking about the rivers as people often think about the link between life and water.
Kim studied Oriental painting, which is a study on the traditional East Asian painting, and has been drawing the Moonassi series since graduating from university. There is no specific background story or theory about the drawings. Each is created based on his daily thoughts and feelings. He draws to meditate on others and himself and to be able to see the whole story of the series in the end.
The theme of "Paradise on the River" provoked Motomichi Nakamura's imagination of the mysterious underwater. A monster in a black body created by the Japanese artist resembles what people imagine when referring to the river as humans and other living organisms that live on the ground, sea animals and other creatures live under the water.
Motomichi moved to Ecuador in 1998 after graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1996 and went back in 2001 to New York, where he currently lives and works. Strongly influenced on one hand by raw art and outsider art, Motomichi's work also borrows from his Japanese background to create a humorous, sometimes child-like, aesthetic that is in contrast with the often-disturbing nature of his work.
The painting of Daphnia looks as if it is alive, as the body is widely spread out and it is fun watching its movement and the action of its body. An artist from Thailand, Lolay, realises the importance of this small living organism which always accompanies a person when in the water. Daphnia not only helps creates ecological balance, but also serves as food for various sea animals throughout their lives. Thus, it helps sea animals grow and, eventually, becomes food for humans.
Lolay graduated with a master in fine arts from Silpakorn University. He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions abroad and in Thailand.
Kult, the other artist from Thailand, displays a sailor in this group painting effort. Although a face shows a worried impression, this makes him an obvious focus and most important figure. This feature especially links to living creatures on the water. These people are responsible for various types of businesses that rely on the river as their main mode of transportation, helping improve the lives of people.
Kult is an illustrator based in Bangkok. He graduated from Silpakorn University and has participated in several art exhibitions in Bangkok and abroad.
The figure resembling an angel holding a boat with a sailor top is an inspiration of Fikos, an artist from Greece. Angels are his most favourite paintings, which refer to them as the links to heaven. This angel is painted to flow in with the paintings of other artists, especially that of Kult's. His art part illustrates that the angel protects the boat and the sailor, so they can travel safely without encountering any difficulties.
Fikos was born in Athens where he still lives. Having a background as a graffiti artist and an iconographer in Orthodox Christian churches, he continues his developmental journey by painting murals in public places. Besides Greece, his work has been exhibited in France, Bulgaria, England, Ireland, Ukraine, Austria, Lithuania, Switzerland, Norway and Mexico.
This live painting took place during the hotel's Bukruk II Afternoon Tea Party in the Krungthep Wing lawn, where 13 artists from eight European countries, three Asian countries including Thailand, plus legendary street art photography were introduced as part of the Bukruk II Urban Arts Festival, co-sponsored by the hotel. The festival aims to help the city make its bid as a regional arts hub and to cement Bangkok's position as a city that breathes and lives art.