Bangkok art: Vasan Sitthiket's latest, a sinful woman and 'Chiang Mai Now!'

With much of the country taking time off to celebrate the upcoming Thai New Year Songkran festivities (April 13-15), several galleries are using this time for a breather as well.

Still, a number of interesting exhibitions are being staged across Bangkok in April.  

Bangkok Art Map (BAM), which is published free every month in Thai and English, shares its list of the city's top art shows in the weeks ahead.  

Chiang Mai Now!, April 7-June 19 

An industrious artist from Chiang Rai, Angkrit Ajchariyasophon assumes a curatorial role for "Chiang Mai Now!," a new showcase exhibition at the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre (BACC).

Profiling 12 art collectives, community-based cultural activities, artist residencies and experiential platforms, the exhibition highlights the diversity and resourcefulness of the northern cultural scene.

BACC, 939 Rama I Road, Pathumwan. +66 (0)2 214 6630-1. Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. BTS: National Stadium

Possessed/Poached, until April 30 

Preeyachanok Ketsuwan’s mixed media installations and video performances draw from local myth and folklore to examine traditional and contemporary female roles.

Reduced to second-class citizens and unable to practice spiritual worship on an equal footing with men, she considers the perception that women are born sinful. Feeling inadequate and stained, her art is an attempt to cleanse and be reborn.

Tang Contemporary Art, Unit B-28 (Basement), Silom Galleria, 919/1 Soi 19. +66 (0)2 630 1114. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m. (closed public holidays). BTS: Surasak

Raw,  April 23-May 21 

Ahead of opening a new gallery space later this year, Numthong displays six artists who produce small-scale works on paper.

Artists Tawan Wattuya, Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, Tawatchai Puntusawasdi, Teerapol Hosanga, Promthum Worawut and Kedsuda Lukthong employ two-dimensional drawing, watercolor and acrylic as an integral element of their creative process.

Numthong Gallery, Room 109, Bangkok Co-op Building, Toeddamri Road. +66 (0)2 243 4326. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. BTS: Ari

Obsessive Compulsive, until May 7 

After January’s exhibition with Number 1 at the prestigious regional showcase Art Stage Singapore, Vasan Sitthiket returns with his latest painterly assault.

Also on CNNGo: Vasan Sitthiket, Thailand's 'anarchist' artist. 

Number 1 Gallery, Silom Galleria B1, 919/1 Silom Road Soi 19. +66 (0)2 630 3381. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. BTS: Surasak 

Deathbed Confession, until April 24

After Chatchai Puipia published his commemorative tome, "Chatchai is dead. If not, he should be," earlier this year, Top Changtrakul now looks to his own demise for inspiration.

A decade on from his 2000 debut solo exhibition in New York, the multi-disciplined artist continues to incorporate humor and satire into his work, as evident in last year’s exhibition "More of the Same."

Whitespace Gallery, Lido Bldg 2F, 260 Siam Square 3. +66 (0)2 252 2900. Tuesday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. or by appointment. BTS: Siam

Spiritutainment, until May 15 

S.E.A. Write Award-winning author Prabda Yoon turns his hand to art curation and artistic production in this group exhibition by Thai and international artists.

With religion long seducing the masses through spectacle, pomp and ceremony, the group of seven artists, which includes Peggy Wauters from Belgium and Thailand’s Krit Ngamsom, contemplates the relationship between religion and entertainment.

100 Tonson Gallery, 100 Soi Tonson, Phloenchit Road. +66 (0)2 684 1527. Thursday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. BTS: Chitlom

Paintings of Unique and Exquisite Orchids, until May 1

Indian artist Hemlata Pradhan’s delicate botanical illustrations might not be the most contemporary art on view this month, but her well-crafted studies of orchids and other rare flora are a historic record worthy of reflection.

Pradhan’s vital watercolours have been shown at the British Museum, as well as being printed as postage stamps in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Serindia Gallery, OP Garden, Unit 3101, 3201, 4-6 Soi Charoen Krung 36. +66 (0)2 238 6410. Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. 

Colour of Day/Colour of Night, April 1–30 

Known among Bangkok’s expat culture clique for his expressive depictions of the capital’s adult nightlife, Thailand-based American painter Chris Coles pairs up with Thai artist Anita Suputipong in this exhibition at Koi.

Celebrating the recent publishing of his new book, "Navigating the Bangkok Noir," Coles’ raw vividness contrasts with Anita’s more tempered evocations of life in the metropolis.

Koi Art Gallery, 43/12 Sukhumvit Soi 31. +66 (0)2 662 3218 Open daily, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. BTS: Phrom Phong

/Surgery-Fat woman-Repair-Feng Shui-Diary-Stranger/, April 5-May 15

Along with Numthong’s Raw, this exhibition also features six emergent Thai artists.

Banded together as the Merge Visible Layers group, the artists utilize a range of two and- three-dimensional mediums to present idiosyncratic themes, which include body modification, the potentiality of Feng Shui, and Bangkok’s destitute. 

Ardel Gallery of Modern Art, 99/45 Belle Ville, Boromratchonnanee Road (Km 10.5). +66 (0)2 422 2092. Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.