The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

New Image of the Wheel of Life IV 1992 Mixed media, relief painting 190x150cm Collection: The artist THAILAND APICHAI PIROMRAK Apichai Piromrakwas born in 1964 at Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. He received his Master of Fine Arts at Silpakorn University, Bangkok and currently teaches there. Apichai Piromrak has been included in many group exhibitions in Thailand and was represented in 'Asia Complex' (Think Future, Act Now!), Fukuoka, Japan, 1990 and in 'Parallel Views, an Exhibition of Contemporary Thai Art', Melbourne, 1991. Among the awards he has received is a gold medal at the '15th Bua Luang Art Exhibition', Bangkok, 1991. The artist's work has been collected by the Thai Farmers Bank, Silpakorn University and Visual Dhamma Gallery in Bangkok. One of the volunteer artists who decorated the famous temple mural painting at Wat Buddhapadipa in Wimbledon, London, Apichai Piromrak is influenced by symbolic forms in Buddhist art as well as by his precursors such as Pichai Nirand and Panya Vijinthanasarn. Apichai Piromrak is a member of the Thai Groupwhich has been active in synthesising traditional motifs in Buddhist art with all-over abstract painting and surface decoration. By 46 using ancient symbols such as the Buddha Footprints and the Wheel, he interprets the geometric patterns within these forms as auspicious marks characterising the Buddha as well as decorative space. In Buddhism there are two forms of the Wheel: the Wheel of Becoming (samsara– cakra) and theWheel of the Dharma (dharma– cakra). The former is the recurrence of the cycle of birth and death. The causes of the Wheel's incessant turning are the three poisons -delusion, desire-attachment, and aversion. In contrast, the dharma-cakra is set in motion by the Buddha when he preaches the Doctrine (dharma). The rolling of the Wheel is equivalent to the Buddha's walking through the worlds. Consequently, the prints of his feet carry the mark of the Wheel. ForApichai Piromrak, images of theWheel ·and Footprint are rolled into one. From the existential aspect, this symbol of the Buddha conveys suffering - the ever-repeating ro– tation of the cycles, turning and returning in an endless motion of renewal. To arrest the Wheel is to attain the tranquil stillness of nirvana. Motifs including spirals, squares and circles are painted in shimmering gold to create a rich array of surface variation. As a result, a push-pull effect is created between abstract shapes as if the Wheel is in motion. At the same time, the patterns of golden shapes help to create areas of opacity and transparency. New image of the Wheel of Life can be appreciated as a configuration of symbolic shapes that take the viewer into a ceaseless flux and impermanence - the motion of the cosmic Wheel. Simultaneously, it is a new image of suffering in modern times where materialism and consumerism dominate society and culture, thereby turning religious– inspired objects into commodities. Apinan Poshyananda