Exhibitions
100 Tonson Foundation
Oct 10, 2020 - Apr 04, 2021
All images courtesy of 100 Tonson Foundation
House Calls (2020), vessels, household utensils, kitchenware, tableware, wood stands, Japanese; Korean; Laotian; Thai; Vietnamese mulberry paper, tissue paper, interchangeable shelves made of powder coated steel, oxidized steel, plywood, solid wood, cork over plywood, mirror finish stainless steel, steel base / shelves designed and fabricated by Studiomake, Bangkok / dimensions variable / photo by By Aroon Permpoonsopon
Curated by Kittima Chareeprasit
“Some dreams tremble, feel unstable. Turning over to turn over. And waking up to real uncertainties.”
- Pinaree Sanpitak
100 Tonson Foundation is honored and excited to present House Calls an exhibition by Pinaree Sanpitak whose paintings, sculptures, large-scale installations, and participatory projects have enriched and inspired Thailand’s art sphere for more than three decades.
Almost a decade has passed since her last solo show in Bangkok. In this exhibition Sanpitak returns with a large-scale audience - responsive installation consisted of hundreds of small sculptures that has never been shown in Thailand before. House Calls has evolved from Sanpitak’s installation presented on a remote island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea during the 2019 Setouchi Triennale. The work grew from eight small sculptures placed in the tatami room’s tokonoma — an alcove in a traditional Japanese house’s tatami room to place items for artistic appreciation, such as calligraphy scrolls and flower arrangements. This work may be viewed as an homage to the masters of lost crafts. Each piece is fabricated by hand using hand-torn stacks of natural paper placed on top of various vessels, containers, and utensils that were once part of Sanpitak’s home and collection. The form of “Breast Stupa” combined with the backstories of each vessel and utensil, together which intersect viewers’ own backgrounds and experiences in creating new narratives of the sacred and the sensual. Almost 400 individual sculptures will transform a modern art space into a domestic living area. The sculptures are placed on motion-responsive shelves specially designed and fabricated by Bangkok- based Studiomake. The shelves are able to subtly vibrate in reaction to viewers’ movements, animating the sculptures and resembling the uncertainty of life under a home’s roof.
Photo by Soopakorn Srisakul
Photo by Atelier 247
This introspective work portrays our collective experiences through this great pandemic, during which we have forged onward through lockdowns and self- quarantines – some of us alone or with others in our own residence, and others of us far away from home. House Calls pays homage to home, in both tangible and intangible ways, underlying the essence of domestic living as a core of human life and experience. It explores home as a quiet poetry, which may be disrupted suddenly as calm comes and goes, capturing the uncertainty of everyday existence.
Photo by Atelier 247
Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopon
During the six-month exhibition period, every month the foundation will offer an array of public programs including artist and curator walk through, a webinar lecture series with Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, a garland (Ma-Lai) making workshop led by the artist, storytelling sessions for kids, a performance workshop with invited artists portraying their interpretation of Sapitak’s installation. The public programs will conclude with the launch of Pinaree Sanpitak’s monograph presenting in-depth essays from art historians, academics, and curators who have been working closely with the artist to share their perspectives and interpretations of Sanpitak's art practice and influential body of work.
Event 2 :Virtual webinar with Asian Art Museum (San Francisco)
Date: 3 November 2020
Event 6 :Book launch: Pinaree Sanpitak monograph
Date: March 2021
Event 1 : Curator and Artist walk through / Opening Reception
Artist in conversation with curator and exhibition walk through
Activity type: artist's talk / exhibition tour
Date : 10 October 2020, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Target group: general public
Event 2 : Virtual webinar with Asian Art Museum (San Francisco)
Artist Conversation with Pinaree Sanpitak
Activity type: artist's talk
Target group: general public
Date: 3 November 2020, 10:00am - 11:00am GMT
Event 3 : MA-LAI
A Workshop with the artist on how to make flower garland.
Activity type: workshop
Date : 20 December 2020
Target group: Thai and international audiences
Event 4 : Storytelling sessions for kids (Private)
Activity type: storytelling
Date : January 2021 (Date TBC)
Target group: Children, age between 10 - 15 years old
Event 5 : Performance
A performance workshop by inviting artists, as well as theatre performance by which performers portray their interpretation of the installation.
Activity type: performance / theatre
Date : February 2021 (Date TBC)
Target group: general public
Event 6 : Book launch: Pinaree Sanpitak monograph
Panel discussion between the artist, curator and three writers from Pinaree’s monographs.
Activity type: academic talk / panel discussion
Panellist: Gridthiya Gaweewong, Roger Nelson and David Teh (to be confirmed)
Date: March 2021 (Date TBC)
Target group: general public
Monograph contributors
Writer: Gridthiya Gaweewong / John Guy / Boreth Ly / Roger Nelson / David Teh
Editor : Rhana Devenport
Publishing Management : Serindia Publications
＊Concurrent Exhibition:
Pinaree Sanpitak will also be presenting “Breast Stupa Cookery: the world turns upside down” at Nova Contemporary, our neighboring art venue, on views from 10 October - 21 November, 2020. For more information about the exhibition: http://www.novacontemporary.com/
Pinaree Sanpitak
B. 1961, Bangkok, Thailand
Pinaree Sanpitak is a prominent artist of this time that was part of the first generation of Thai Contemporary Art. In the late 1980s, her artistic practice began and orbited around the celebration of the female body as a vessel of perception and experience, exploring the vessel and the mound as a basic and primal form. Her work involves a recurring motif of the female breast, resembling works of architecture dedicated to Buddhism known as stupas and ever so often an offering bowl. Various approaches of collage, drawing, printmaking, painting, and sculpture are explored through Sanpitak’s sensorial inquiries, revealing a keen sensitivity towards materials and through a variety of media: textiles, glass, ceramics and metals as such.
Over the past thirty years, Sanpitak has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Thailand and internationally. Her solo exhibitions were presented at Singapore Tyler Print Institute and Yavuz Gallery, Singapore (2019),The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place and Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York, USA (2017), Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, USA (2015), Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia (2014), and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA (2013). She has participated in various group exhibitions including at the Setouchi Triennale (2019), National Gallery Singapore (2017), Jakarta Biennale (2017), Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art, France (2015), The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA (2015), and The 2nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka, Japan (2002). She is the 2018 resident artist at STPI- Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore. Sanpitak lives and works in Bangkok.
Over the past 17 years, 100 Tonson Gallery has been a forefront contemporary art gallery in Thailand and Asia. The gallery has mounted over 100 exhibitions and programs of both local and international artists. Since 2015 we have been supporting artists and curators to make their most ambitious experimentation with a long-term program while generating greater cultural exposure to public at large.
This year 100 Tonson Gallery has officially transitioned into a non-profit organization under the name 100 Tonson Foundation. All profits and donations directly support the production of exhibition and new commissions while allowing us to keep our diverse public programs free for visitors.
100 Tonson Foundation aims to further elevate Thai contemporary art in gaining international recognition as well as to support the progress of the local art community. The foundation provides opportunity for artists to exhibit across all art disciplines at its unique Christian Liaigre designed space in the heart of Bangkok. The horizon of the foundation’s support goes beyond these white-cube walls. The foundation establishes relationships and collaborations with renowned international museums and art institutions.
House Calls is the first project launched by 100 Tonson Foundation.
