Art Encounters 2017 Exhibitions:
Urban Insights

In his work, Pratchaya Phinthong (b. 1974) poetically transfers financial fluctuations, media alarmism, and the world labor market into matter. Often conceived as a dialogue between the artist and the others, Phinthong’s artworks confront different social, economic or geographical systems. Through his hidden artistic gesture he creates coextensive contexts where he could test and observe the spectators’ perceptions.

Selected exhibitions: Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok / Para Site, Hong Kong (2017); 40th Anniversary, Ludwig Museum, Köln (2016); Roll Your Pain Away, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Chiang Maï (2016); Pratchaya Phinthong, gb agency, Paris (2015, 2012, 2009, 2007, solo); Under the Clouds, Serralves Museum, Porto (2015); Time of Others, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2015); Soleil Politique, Museion, Bolzano (2014); A proposal to set CH4 5.75H20 on fire, Kiosk, Ghent (2013, solo); A piece that nobody needs, Lothringer13_halle, Münich (2013, solo); Broken Hill, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2013, solo); Materials, Money and Crisis, MUMOK, Vienna (2013); I Know You, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2013); Sleeping Sickness, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes (2012, solo); Give More Than You Take, GAMeC, Bergamo (2011, solo); Until it Makes Sense, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2011); How to Work (More for) Less, Kunsthalle Basel (2011).

He participated in important international exhibitions such as the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016), CAFAM Biennale (Beijing, 2014), dOCUMENTA 13 (Kassel, 2012),
Taipei Biennial (2012).

Pratchaya Phinthong’s works are often constructed in dialogue between the artist and the others, making the artist’s creation sway towards a social act. Beyond common formalities, the artist seeks to find his own place and identity in the art world by playing on economic representations and cultural existences.

Phinthong presents a series of found object from the streets of Bangkok, initially made and used by an anonymous public to reserve parking spaces. Bringing together improvised and ephemeral sculptures made of objects appropriated from everyday life, his Social Sculptures Project emphasizes a spontaneous and constantly renewed creativity in the way the public space is occupied. Through this practice, he pursues an about-turn approach to creation, recuperating objects from the collective and returning it to the individual, and vice-versa.

Images:

1. Pratchaya Phinthong, Portrait

2. Pratchaya Phinthong, Social Sculpture Project 05 (2017), two polaroids, courtesy the artist and GB Agency, Paris, photo credits: Pratchaya Phinthong