Kawaii Plate Series 2020
Kawaii is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and nonhumans that are charming, vulnerable, shy, and childlike. The kanji for the Japanese word for cute, ‘kawaii’, literally means ‘able to be loved, loveable’. The cuteness culture, or kawaii aesthetic, is gaining more popularity beyond the borders of Japan into other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, the US and Australia especially among people who love manga and anime.
As my work has long been associated with cuteness, I create an imaginary creature – part bird and part rabbit with many kawaii aesthetics including long rabbit ears, a nose with cross mark, big eyes with sparkle and a big smile. I then insert the creature into different Japanese landscape settings that usually paint on blue and white porcelain domestic plates. The combination of the two elements create a familiar yet unusual sense of cuteness and loveable objects.
F Plate Series 2017
The F-plate series examines the motivations in sport such as ‘Fame’, ‘Finance’ and ‘Friendship’. The plate is inspired by sports medals. Flower decorations on the works link to floral crowns or bouquets presented to sporting victors. The plates’ form pay homage to the tradition of utilitarian or decorative dinnerware presented as trophies; a nod to the historical importance of ceramics.
Vase Series 2020
A double gourd shape is a symbol of fertility and immortality. It is also considered to be good luck.
ClayLAB 2020
Ancient porcelain vases can be seen as a record of everyday life. Back then, artists recorded their everyday objects by painting them onto the surface of the vases. Especially objects in the scholar study room which includes pot plants, pens, stacks of paper, vases, tables, chairs and many secret symbols.
For ClayLAB, I recorded everyday objects around my studio; ceramic tools, a variety of hand creams, pencil, paint brush and brush holder, ink bottle, aromatherapy oil bottle, pen, smally dishes for color mixing, a good luck charm and many more.
A dragon and a phoenix, the perfect couple in Feng Shui. Dragon is “yang” while Phoenix is “yin”, and they complement each other in creating yin-yang balance to harvest successful matrimonial bliss. This is the symbol of everlasting love and they being together is the ultimate symbol of happiness, luck, outstanding achievement in life and great fortune and prosperity. This reflects on what I want to achieve in my ClayLAB studio.
Underneath the vase is a portrait of me smiling as I take over the art world!
Indigo Flower 2020
Between flowers and sex there has long been an enduring link. In the classical age, women (especially virgins) were compared to flowers. Shakespeare often resorted to botanical metaphors for females, above all in Hamlet, in which Ophelia strews flowers all over Elsinore.
Humans admire flowering plants for their beauty, but in truth a blossom is nothing more than a sex organ, designed to attract an intermediary to do the necessary work of moving pollen from anther to pistil. Many flowers have a distinctive bull’s-eye colour – a different shade from the outside petals, to help insects and birds find the payload of pollen.
My flowers have gold coloured bull’s eyes to lure love, luck and prosperity to me. Underneath the vase is a great symbol of good luck, Palad Khik, a Thai amulet that is shaped like a penis. The phrase “palad khik” means “honorable surrogate penis”. People use the amulets to increase sexual attraction. Shop owners display them in their shops or in the cash register area to protect their business and also bring good luck and sales.
Traibhumikatha: the story of the three planes of existence 2020
Regarded as the most important literary work to survive from the Sukhothai era, the Traibhumi has significantly shaped the thinking of Thai people in a host of different ways, experts say. Its influence can be seen in traditional painting, sculpture, literature and architecture. Anecdotes from, and references to, this huge body of writing pop up again and again in court art, music and folk tales.
The original version – Traibhumikatha – is accredited to King Lithai of Sukhothai who ruled from 1347 to 1376. Legend has it that this devoutly religious monarch consulted more than 30 ancient texts before having the fruits of his research into Buddhist cosmology engraved on folded palm leaves.
Traibhumikatha contains illustrations and a detailed account of the origins of the Buddhist universe. All existence is divided into three worlds according to theravada Buddhism; world of carnality, world of form, and world of formlessness; roughly corresponding to earth, heaven, and hell.
Underneath the vase is an image of an astronaut landing on the moon.
To view the online exhibition – Click Here
Image: Mermaid (front)2020, ceramic and high-pigmentation acrylic, 70 x 67 x 18 cm
