Story of the Eye’ . . . a duo art exhibition by Tada Varich & Tawan Wattuya
At Gossip Gallery @Silom Galleria
From now until 30th Dec. 2009
Gossip Gallery @Silom Galleria in partnership with D Art Foundation is pleased to announce the joint exhibition by two renowned Thai artists, Tada Varich (a fashion photographer) and Tawan Wattuya (a painter).
“Story of the Eye” is the title borrowed from the very erotic, considered pornographic by some, book by French writer Georges Bataille. This highly erotic and non- censored exhibition proposes to freeze a flow in its process. It attempts to capture (poetically speaking) the organic, moving, evolving creation of two, very productive and talented young artists. The liquid substance linking tawan’s watercolors and Tada’s pictures works as a metaphor. These paintings and photographs are gathered as a poem. There is no real story line, they are meant to be purely experienced with the senses as in Georges Bataille’s “Story of the Eye”.
As R. Barthes says speaking of this book: “The narrative is only a kind of floating matter, a vehicle for the precious metaphoric substance.”
Since the 80s the ubiquity of the internet and easy access to adult materials has probably had the greatest impact on our approach and vision of sex. This mass production of pornographic pictures also largely influenced contemporary artists and photographers such as Nan Goldin, Robert Maplethorpe, Andres Serrano, Thomas Ruff, Catherine Opie, Cecily Brown and many others always pushing further the boundaries between erotic, artistic and pornographic imageries. Nowadays the boundaries are undefined and continuously changing, they are only determined by the subjective moral view of the generally accepted cultural confines of customs and tradition. Tawan Wattuya like Tada Varich plays with the boundaries of these concepts mocking the strong Thai censorship on erotic imageries. Their work stands on constant and paradoxal borderlines; Are these images erotic, artistic or pornographic? Do they express fulfilled desire or anxiety? Are they striking or banal? Do they arouse sexual desire or are they repulsive? Are they beautiful?
Tada Varich is one of the leading fashion photographers in Thailand. He also develops a more intimate work which he occasionally showcases. This selection was taken from diverse material of private photographs he has been gathering over the past ten years. These pictures are taken on the spear of the moment. They are like fugitive emotions which are later reconstructed in the way we reconstruct a dream when we wake up. The subjective links between the pictures produce meaning. What is happening between the pictures is rather more important than the picture itself. The viewer connects the pictures to one another unconsciously producing other images from his own life, his own emotions. This method of taking raw bits and pieces of everyday life invites the viewer to take place in the process of creation.
Tawan Wattuya seeks his models in porn magazines and websites (supposedly illegal in Thailand) once again shaking the conformism of Bangkok’s contemporary painting scene. Confronted to this huge amount of ever-growing stock of porn pictures, Tawan not only seizes some pictures, but he captures and portrays its flow, the emotion provoked by the number. In Tawan’s paintings the individual is swallowed into an anonymous mass of boiling flesh. The act of painting suspends the mass consumption of these images. As said by Marlene Dumas: “Painting is not a mass media made for mass distribution. Paintings need to be seen, one by one, eye to eye.” The controversy is not in the images Tawan Wattuya paints, but in the way they are subverted by an implied knowingness, a blatant confrontation with a natural reality and its discomforts.
Art enthusiasts or anyone who would like more information on these incredible contemporary works of art by Tada Varich and Tawan Wattuya should contact Khun Siripa Chotchung at (02) 237-5568 and (089) 812-2589 or Khun Chonticha Choochart at (081) 440-3896 or visit the Gallery’s website: www.gossipgallerybkk72.com. Email address:
[email protected].
Gossip Gallery, which is located on the 3rd floor of Silom Galleria, is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday viewings are by appointment only.
Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net