Bangkok art: Mongolian and Khmer art among September's exhibit highlights

Bangkok's September art exhibit highlights include the latest works from well-known artist Thaweesak Srithongdee, whose exhibition "Bruised" is currently on view at Thavibu Gallery, as well as a rare opportunity to check out recent Mongolian and Khmer creativity. 

Bangkok Art Map (BAM), published free every month in Thai and English, takes a look at these and more in its list of the city's top art shows in the weeks ahead.  

Bruised, September 17 – October 15

In "Bruised," the latest series of acrylic paintings by Thaweesak Srithongdee on view at Thavibu Gallery, Lolay as he is better known, expands his fascination with the human condition to question our existence and ultimate survival.

Visualizing the contusion theme through water saturated bled colours atop bare white backdrops, Lolay enmeshes organic, sinuous imagery that slices beneath the pop-erotic flesh to reveal the organs and innards that control and sustain our existence. 

Suite 308, Silom Galleria F3, 919/1 Silom Road, Soi 19. +66 (0)2 266 5454. Open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. www.thavibu.com. BTS: Surasak

Already Mades, September 17 - October 31  

Krit Ngamsom’s whimsical installation features a new series of mixed-media sculptures that appropriate and re-contextualise significant creations in 20th century art.

Looking to such heavyweights as Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Nam June Paik, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst, Krit fancifully reinterprets iconic artworks as carnivalesque post-modern parodies, in which their historical significance is celebrated and subverted.

Number 1 Gallery, Silom Galleria B1, 919/1 Silom Road Soi 19. +66 (0)2 630 2523. Open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. www.number1gallery.com. BTS: Surasak

The State of Play, until September 30 

Absorbing imagery from everyday observations, Bangkok-based Welsh artist Nigel Price’s paintings are a direct response to his immediate environment, as well as an observation of contemporary popular culture.

Charged with an undercurrent of eroticism, albeit corrupted and crude, his latest series inserts tongue-in-cheek references to Thailand as a destination of leisure and in particular the "love industry." 

Koi Art Gallery, 43/12 Sukhumvit Soi 31. +66 (0)2 662 3218. Open daily, 10 a.m.–7 p.m. www.koiartgallerybangkok.com. BTS: Phrom Phong

Shroud, September 15 – October 15

One of the region’s few contemporary artists to consistently utilize fabric as a core medium, Jakkai Siributr is considered one of Southeast Asia’s preeminent textile-based artists and is recognized for his imaginatively threaded, often satirical narratives.

He has reinvigorated fiber art with a bitingly fresh contemporary countenance that is relevant to a region struggling to balance its historical and religious foundations with the concerns of modern living. 

Art Centre Chulalongkorn University, Centre of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Phaya Thai Road. +66 (0)2 218 2965. Open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. www.car.chula.ac.th/art. BTS: Siam

Gagasmicism, September 11 – October 11

Continuing to present whimsical, idiosyncratic interpretations of the architecture of queer identity in art, for his second solo exhibition in Thailand Pan Pan Narkprasert delivers anew drag queen alter ego, Princess Pangina. 

Delivered as a performance and multimedia manifested quasi-religion, Pan Pan plays with notions of celebrity worship as deification, as personified by American pop diva Lady Gaga.

BKK Arthouse, BACC F3, 939 Rama I Road, Pathumwan. +66 (0)80 990 6910. Open Tuesday-Sunday, noon-7:30 p.m. BTS: National Stadium 

Time to Stop, September 17 – October 31  

Sharing the same exhibition venue, the two galleries come together to host an exhibition of painted works by three artists from Mongolia and Cambodia.

Batbataar Khurelbaatar uses the calligraphy of Mongolian script to create historical monuments, while fellow Mongolian Nandin Erdene Budzagd’s collages construct images of women with physical defects. Denis Minh-Kim focuses on Khmer boxing in his chaotic, staggered pugilistic portrayals.

Gossip Gallery and Teo & Namfah Gallery, Silom Galleria 3F, 919/1 Silom Road Soi 19. +66 (0)2 637 7878. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. BTS: Surasak. Gossip has relocated from Sukhumvit to the compact third floor space in Silom Galleria to share with Teo + Namfah Gallery. 

Lady First, until September 19

Hoping to define itself as the capital’s only dedicated artist’s enclave, the fledgling V64 is a renovated warehouse site comprising some 30 studios and workshops for emerging artists.

A place to acquire art without any gallery commissions, the destination space will host a café-bar, children’s art academy and souvenir shop. Hosting regular exhibitions, the current group display features female-focused art works. 

V64 Art Studio, Soi Viphavadi Rangsit 64. +66 (0)89 143 0986. Open daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m. www.v64artstudio.com 

Tukata – Post Industrial Venus, until October 15 

French photographer-curator Claude Estèbe is an expert in Japanese visual culture, which is echoed in the sensibility of his symbolic series of female doll photos.

Dressing and staging the plastic models, Estèbe raises questions about femininity, modernity and economic globalization in Asia. 

Toot Yung Gallery, 19 Prachathipratai Road. +66 (0)84 914 5499. Tuesday–Sunday, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. www.tootyunggallery.com

Tradition & Innovation, until September 18

The craft traditions of woven rug patterns and furniture finishing are combined in this showcase of decorative design objects, called "Tradition & Innovation: The Piccus Collection of Tibetan Rugs & Material Innovations from Lamont."

Over the last 30 years Robert Piccus has built up an outstanding collection of Tibetan carpets. Here the symbolic and powerful structures will be complimented by Alexander Lamont’s shimmering surface furniture adornments. 

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. serindiagallery@gmail.com