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ContemporaryThai Artist

MONTIEN BOONMAThe Pagoda & Cosmos Drawn with Earth[TOKYO]The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center Gallery
16 October-3 November, 1991
Organized by The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center[FUKUOKA]

Mitsubishi-Jisho ARTIUM
3-26 January, 1992
Organized by Mitsubishi-Jisho ARTIUM
Nishinippon Shimbun
The Japan Foundation ASEAN Culture Center§;j.(

Contents

5$'--((7)iJUtc;zJ,-?9~'E::,,5'--o:::,,-t.::l::1!5Gt.:
Montien and the Contemporary Thai Scene -TANI

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Artist 's Message -12::,,7'-1':r:::,,• 7>v'Montien BOONMA~It&
Plates24

ft*IB§~
Biography

26$'-1'IJUt~f,jljc:f~~-::Px~-1·.:.it--·T17Jv::,,;z;,'.'.7::,,
Traditional Values in Contemporary Thai Art
Anuvit CHARERNSUPKUL

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Montien and the Contemporary Thai Scene
TANI Arata
Art Critic

I. The Movement from Premodern to Modern
Perhaps no artist reveals more about the contemporary scene in Thailand than Montien Boonma, whose work reflects various problems
confronting contemporary art in his country . In this instance, it might
be better to say " actuality" than " contemporary. " Modern and premodern - even a foreshadowing of Thai neomodernism - are encompassed by this term, which offers an extremely broad latitude forinterpretation .
How should the extent of this realm be judged? As the numberof modern artists increases, the direction of Montien's art, too, will
eventually , I think , become more concentrated . One can also foresee
more rapid advances in the overall forms of expression in his work as
modernism progresses in Thai art.
Montien's artistic output , however, currently displays no inklingeven of a sharpened focus. His works are racing from the premodern
toward the ultramodern , like the dizzying changes that have takenplace in the Thai economy and culture, especially in the last dozen
years or so. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that the premodern
and ultramodern are simultaneously mobilized in his work. This circumstance epitomizes the actual situation in Thailand.
The lack of time, to wit, maturity, that characterizes the speed ofMontien's artistic changes may not have occurred in the modern Westor Japan, which echoed the Western example. Thailand experienced
a delay in modernization; once started, it has progressed at a rapid
pace using Europe and the United States as a model. More than a half
century has passed since European training in painting and sculpture
began under the Italian Corrado Feroci, known in Thailand as Silpa
Bhirasri. Although it seems as though a long time had passed, diverse
forms of representation have been explored only since the 1960s,
when Thai art w as freed from its function as a tool for building themodern state. Moreover , the upheavals in Thai society and culturecaused by the economic activities of Japan and other countries during
the last dozen or more years has unquestionably provided the matrix
out of which the current situation in Thailand has arisen.
II. From Soil to Discarded Industrial ProductsMontien was born in 1953 in Bangkok, a city in the heart of Asia thathas undergone a major transformation. To express it in commonplaceterms, one could say that Montien 's life plainly reflects an age when
the premodern Thai society underwent rapid modernization. This isreadily apparent from the kind of material he utilizes . On the one
hand, he emplo ys materials and implements epitomizing premodernism. Yet he also usesa large quantity of waste materials createdin the process of modernization , such as containers for metal and raw
materials used to produce manufactured goods. These items transcend
the realm of mere materials; they even appear symbolic.
Works produced by Montien in the past few years alone draw on
a host of materials, ranging from bamboo birdcages and straw tohoes and other farm implements, leather, animal horns, hemp bags,
buckets, brooms, and rice paper. Moreover, earth and clay are often
used on· flat surfaces and three-dimensional forms. All of these items
can be classified as premodern materials in the sense used here.
Conversely, 'Pagoda Construction ' (1990), created out of a pile ofpowder boxes, and the ' Venus of Bangkok' (1991, fig.ll , made ofsheet iron and other items found at a construction site, consist of anassemblage of objects discarded in the process of modernization .
These are not contradictory aspects of Montien 's work but real
objects that match his environment. And yet, however natural they
may be from the perspective of his inner world , as artistic material they
nevertheless send us a subtly refracted message. In other words, thecodes produced by premodern materials function as memory andnostalgia, while the industrial goods created in the modern age transmit the strong, clear sense of codes critical of civilization .
There is nothing to prevent our looking upon Montien's work8