The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

MONTIEN BOONMA Montien Boonma was an artist whose practice successfully bridged the dislocations between Thailand's traditional culture and contemporary life. Using traditional motifs and locally sourced, often organic materials, he contrived installations of exquisite and subtle beauty, each 'a kind of ritual space',2 an elegantly conceived sanctuary for contemplation and self– reflection in the modern world. As well as referencing the architectural forms of South-East Asia's salas (pavilions), stupas (Buddhist reliquary monuments) and wats (Buddhist monastery complexes), his constructions also create an evocation of the sensory experience of their environs. Medicinal herbs used to cleanse and purify, soothe and sustain, have been smeared on the surfaces of the works, delicately perfuming the air. Hand– wrought clay bells provide an imagined auditory presence, a muted call to meditation and prayer. The simple forms of bowls, humble and unadorned, stronger and more resilient when full than empty,3 hint at the giving and receiving of alms. Pairs of lungs clustered pendulously like exotic, terracotta– toned fruits suggest anapanasati, the disciplined attentiveness to breathing that is an essential element of the meditation practised in Buddhist monasteries. Thailand's wats, as Montien once observed, 'used to be centres of healing and faith, where people could go to propitiate the gods and at the same time do chants and take medicine; so it was also a kind of psychotherapy. It was the best kind of healing possible'.• Similarly, his installations provide a reverential and restorative tonic for body and soul. With the contemporary art museum as his setting, Montien's use of textured surfaces and gently scented spices, allusions to sound and taste, and references to meditative practice not only recreate the spiritual ambience of the temple within the temporal, but also invite an exploration of sensory perception beyond the purely visual. They recall the practice of sati or mindfulness, a meditative discipline that uses an awareness of sensory perception to cultivate a mind that is tranquil, tractable and devoid of self. Montien's installations are calming, welcoming spaces conducive to introspection and reflection. They represent an exploration of belief put into practice that inspires a sense of wholeness and spiritual wellbeing. Left: Gilded lotus flowers on chedi, Wat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai,Thailand Centre: Chedi, central sanctuary, Preah Khan, Angkor, Cambodia Right: South entrance, Wat Phra Kaeo, Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand Photographs: Michael Freeman Montien's redeployment of traditional materials, symbols and motifs may indeed reference traditional culture and is clearly articulated through a profoundly felt Buddhist belief, but his practice never became ensnared within the stultifying amber of historical re-creation. His works do not merely imitate the aesthetic practices of the past in a lamentory recalling of a golden age, or a despairing jeremiad on a loss of faith: Montien was no reactionary, attempting to deny or defy cultural change. Neither placatory offerings nor religious icons, his installation pieces were created for an aesthetic as well as meditative contemplation, conceived for and displayed within the secular spaces of contemporary international art museums and arts festivals. 5 The viewer's experience of Montien's constructions, even when enveloped within them, does not insulate or isolate them from the surrounding gallery space. Instead, by erecting a delicate lattice of ceramic bells, fret-like arrangements of carefully stacked boxes, steel surfaces punctured by the sinuous curlicues of a repetitive questioning, or structures which float above the gallery floor, gently, even precariously poised on apparently fragile legs, Montien has contrived permeable barriers that allow slippage between interior and exterior, private and public, traditional and modern. This permeation suggests a seeking of balance - one that reflects Buddhism's Middle Path - between traditional Thai ways of thinking and Western cultural values . Importantly, it rejects neither but embraces both. By inviting the gallery visitor to share in the experience of his ritual spaces, Montien has created a sense of community and shared tradition. For although they most frequently reference Buddhist motifs and practices, and employ traditional materials familiar to most Thais, the appeal of his works transcends the boundaries of the purely local and the parameters of the artist's own spiritual quest. These objects, representing a sensitively wrought blend of tradition and change, resonate with audiences regardless of their faith or cultural backgrounds. Montien's significant contribution to artistic practice both in Thailand and internationally was recognised when he was selected to represent his country at the First Asia-Pacific Triennial in 1993. He travelled to Brisbane to install his work Lotus sound 1992 (Queensland Art Gallery Collection), where his carefully conceived and elegant installation won him critical admiration, and his considerable grace of manner and thought won him many friends. Sarah Tiffin is Associate Curator, Historical Asian Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery. 41