The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition catalogue (APT2)

Kamin LERTCHAIPRASERT Lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand Top Problem-Wisdom 1995 Sculptural assemblage at Visual Dhamma Gallery, Bangkok, comprising 366 papier-macM pieces, cotton cloth Collection: The artist Bottom Detail, Problem-Wisdom 1995 Kamin Lertchaiprasert has been actively producing art works since 1987. His early works were mainly prints using photo-etching and aquatint. The artist's early prints are highly subjective and expressive, revealing feelings of anxiety, pain, suffering, aggressiveness, violence and disturbance. The subject matter of these prints deals with his personal experiences since childhood. The artist's journeys to different parts of the country in 1991 inspired the work Niras Thailand. The artist recorded what he saw, heard and felt while travelling. The artist says of his journey, 'Each day walking about in my sandals, I took photographs and wrote poems to express my thoughts. And on each, when I returned ... I would stamp my rubber sandal, in whose sole I had carved my name'. In Niras Thailand, the artist uses photographs as his major medium.The stamped footprint is combined with beautiful calligraphic inscriptions using Thai letters and Chinese characters.The harmonious combination of Thai and Chinese writing indicates an awareness of his cultural roots. However, the footprint used in his work caused controversy. In Thai culture, the foot, as the lowest part of the body, signifies something rude and uncultured. The artist had his own reasons for stamping footprints on his work. For him, the footprint is the symbol of his travels. It functions as 88 I ARTI s T s SO u TH AND SOUTH - EAST ASI A his signature and, more importantly, is inspired by the 'Buddha Footprint', an object held in reverence by Thais. Questions concerning the art of printmaking arose in Thailand because of this work. Could there be some connection between the footprint and the origin of the art of printmaking? Kamin Lertchaiprasert's experience in living abroad for many years enables him to understand differences between the cultures, philosophies and lifestyles of people in the East and the West. He has captured similarities in material interests such as money, fame and power. To the artist these interests are important parts of contemporary life and inevitably become a part of the problems in society. The artist's interest in religion and Eastern philosophy and his social awareness produced an outstanding installation, Problem-Wisdom 1995. This work reflects his views about what is currently happening in Thai society. The artist began the project in 1993 and completed it in 1995, a long process demanding self-discipline. In the first year of the project, the artist read newspapers each day, cutting out articles that attracted or impressed him and soaking the rest of the newspaper in water. The following year he pasted the soaked paper together, making different kinds of papier-ma.che figures. He made 366 small paper sculptures during the year. Through reflection, the artist also learned a great deal about the causes of the problems in the newspaper articles he had collected. Each day he worked on one piece of sculpture, each symbolising a social problem. After gaining insight into the causes of the problems, he finalised his work by inscribing, in Thai script, his point of view about each problem on the surface of each of the sculptures. The experience gained from working on the project Problem-Wisdom 1995 ultimately changed his attitude toward life. The artist began to realise different aspects of Buddhism that he had never known before. During the last six months of this project, he experimented with meditation.This led Kamin Lertchaiprasert to an understanding of problems, and of cause and effect, both in his works of art and in real life. Somporn Rodboon, Associate Professor, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand