Pannaphan Yodmanee
APT9
Born 1988 Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
Lives and works in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Pannaphan Yodmanee was trained in traditional Buddhist painting from a young age. She now draws on Buddhist cosmology to create site-specific installations that resemble modern ruins or demolition sites. She constructs these using slabs of demolished concrete, exposed iron structures and walls primed with concrete and rocks. These raw elements are delicately painted with scenes depicting historical events in South-East Asia, including conquests, battles and journeys across land and sea. She uses gold leaf and the vivid blues associated with Thai Buddhist art, and also creates her own Buddhist objects and icons, which are dispersed throughout the installation like secrets waiting to be discovered. Yodmanee is particularly interested in the role that faith and religion have in our lives, and their capacity to foster peace and happiness, but also destruction, conflict and violence.
Pannaphan Yodmanee / Thailand b.1988 / In the aftermath 2018, installed at GOMA for APT9, 2018 / Found objects, artist-made icons, plaster, resin, concrete, steel, pigment / © Pannaphan Yodmanee / Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA
From the age of ten, Pannaphan Yodmanee learnt traditional painting techniques at her local Buddhist temple. Through years of refining traditional painting practices, she has formed a deep understanding of philosophies and cosmologies inherent in Thai Buddhist art, which she now transforms into densely layered installations.
In the aftermath 2018 resembles both the decaying murals in the ruins of old temples and the rubble of demolished buildings. The installation is based around three key elements: rocks and stones from the artist’s hometown representing the natural world; found objects and fragments of buildings; and miniatures of Buddhist icons and sacred stupas, which have been created by the artist in a range of materials. Shrouded in small, vivid paintings together with heavily layered wall treatments and found objects, Yodmanee’s installation illustrates Buddhist narratives. It also chronicles the formation of individual and regional identities, and explores South-East Asian histories of migration, conflict and loss, as well as destructive human tendencies. In doing so, Yodmanee’s works have developed a new platform for Buddhist art, while they simultaneously capture the interconnectedness of art, religion and history in contemporary Thai society.
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