The two-story house and studio of late artist
Montien Boonma in Ngarmwongwarn neighborhood has been refurbished and recently
opened to the public as 408 Art Space. Downstairs is a café called Early Bird
Gets Coffee, while the second floor, called Montient Atelier (atelier is French
for studio), is dedicated to the display of the artist’s works throughout his
life.
Credit by : https://www.facebook.com/MontienAtelier
Montien
Boonma was a graduate of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn
University. He then received a scholarship to study in Italy and France, later
returning to Bangkok to continue his master’s degree at the same faculty at
Silpakorn. He was one of the most prominent artists in 1970s, alongside Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Sutee
Kunavichayanont, Manit Sriwanichpoom, and Apinan
Poshyanand – a group of artists who had had overseas experience and came back
to Thailand with new creative ideas. Montien was a lecturer at the Faculty of
Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts,
Chulalongkorn University (briefly), and the Faculty of Painting,
Sculpture and Graphic Arts at his alma mater until his death in 2000.
Many
view his works as influenced by Buddhist minimalism, as a number of his works
revolved around Buddhist teachings and an individual's interior domains.
However, looking back at his time, neotraditionalism or Buddhist-immersed
contemporary art was indeed gaining ground. His use of art to convey political
messages, his use of new materials to create art (such as soil, herbs, and egg
yolk), and his creation of installations that took up the entire space of a
gallery instead of just the wall of the exhibition room as was more common, all
set his works apart significantly from those of other artists of his time (in
the same way Araya’s video art in which she was talking to corpses set her
apart from others). His works ranged from painting, printmaking, sculpture to
large-scale installations. Major works included Sala of Mind (1994), Lotus
Sound (1989), and Melting Void: Molds for the Minds (1996), the latter of which
was on display, alongside Araya’s work, in Thai Pavillion at the 51st
Venice Biennale in 2005 – five years after the artist passed – under the
exhibition titled Those Dying Wishing to Stay, Those Living Wishing to Leave.
The idea
to open the art studio started with the need to reorganize the collection of
artworks that had been left at the house since 2000. These artworks are on
display in an exhibition on the second floor of the house, welcoming any art
students wishing to learn how the artist worked and anyone interested in
Montien’s works so they could once again start a conversation about the
brilliant artist.
The team
behind this initiative consisted of Somsuda Piamsamrit, curator at Jim Thompson
House; Abhisit Nongbua, one of Montien’s closest students; and Jumphong Boonma,
the late artist’s only son. With funding received from Ver Gallery, together
they rearranged some 25% of all of his works (numbering some 3,000) in a
timeline that shows each period of his works, which was very nicely done. The
timeline started from his days as a student and was followed by the period
after his graduation from University, when he co-founded White Group, an
experimental society that encouraged the use of water color in abstract art,
with his fellow students in 1982. The next period is after his return to
Thailand from France and started focusing on sculpture and installations. A major milestone was the exhibition called
Stories from the Farm (1987), in which the artist used materials that were
readily available locally (while he was living in Chiang Mai) to create art,
representing the impacts of industrialization that was rapidly transforming
life in the countryside. A key turning
point was when Montien's wife (Chancham Boonma) was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Mental states and Buddhist philosophy were visibly reflected in his art
afterwards, and it was these works that people primarily remember him by.
All in
all, the exhibition shows the making of major works in each period, telling
visitors their background stories with sketches, drawings, and accompanying
texts. In addition to demonstrating how the artist developed ideas for each of
his project, another amazing thing about the exhibition is that the drawings
are like the manual for the creation of each work. This means that if we follow
these instructions, then there is a real possibility that we will see major
works such as House of Hope, 1997, a large-scale installation that was once
shown at the 51st Venice Biennale once again in Bangkok.
In terms
of space management, I have to say the team has done an excellent job. The
display cases have been modified from ready-made cabinets, and on them works
that are not too large are placed, separated by the period of production. The
text accompanying each work is hidden in the drawer underneath, and visitors
can pull it out to read, which is an awesome idea and should be adopted in
other places too because it doesn’t take up any space on the wall. Instead of
wasting the wall on these texts (which are sometimes bigger than the work), the
wall will have room to display more works. Another highlight is the cabinet
where sketchbooks are kept, which display tens of them with a new page turned
every day. Also worth mentioning is the library zone that collects all
important documents, including personal letters and books on Montien Boonma’s
life and his works.
The
greatest contribution that the studio has made is, undeniably, to the study of
art, as Montien Atelier has prepared digital information that interested
persons can readily use. Montien Atelier is therefore an interesting model, as
it will serve as an example that smaller art institutions can take their own
initiative without having to beg for public funding. The studio’s management
and display of works in a small area will also inspire the emergence of similar
galleries in the future. While we cannot be 100% sure that this model will be
widely adopted, what we can be sure of is the other 75% of Montien’s works are
waiting for their turn to be put on display for us in the years to come.
Montien Atelier is open from Wednesday to Sunday,
12.00-19.00 hours (Early Bird Gets Coffee is open from 09.00-21.00 daily,
except Saturday). It is definitely worth a visit. Don’t worry if you never
heard of Montien Boonma before, as the exhibition has done a great job of
telling his story through his works.