PRAWEEN PIANGCHOOMPU
Praween Piangchoompu offers viewers a glimpse of his mindscape where both memory and sentiment are visualised. In contrast to traditional woodcut printing, Piangchoompu’s work is surprisingly subtle. The deceptively simple-looking prints hide a highly laborious process. The artist painstakingly layers tone-on-tone hues to create an ethereal and mesmerising effect where muted colours shift smoothly into seamless gradients. Once hung on the wall, it becomes difficult to decipher the medium. The subjects are simple, often everyday objects that beckon untold stories, vacant scenes with hints of presence - ways in which the artist seeks to achieve balance in the mind and soul.
Piangchoompu brings traditional woodcut printing skills to another level, each work taking months to complete. The artist spends countless hours carving the wood, sanding it down, preparing his pigments, precisely aligning the paper, rolling out each layer, minutiously cleaning the board, waiting for the ink to dry before repeating these steps for the next layer. Each work necessitates utmost concentration, patience and dedication. It may take up to twenty-five layers, in contrast to the one, two or up to six layers in the conventional process to produce the unique, soft and imperceptibly shifting gradients. This highly labour-intensive and demanding methodology yields works with unique luminosity and shadows, textures, and understated visual aesthetics that defines the artist's characteristic style.
Praween Piangchoompu (b. 1989, Thailand) has exhibited locally and internationally, including at The National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2019); The International Biennial Print Exhibition, Taiwan (2016) and Kruangthai Art Awards Exhibition, Thailand (2015) amongst others. Piangchoompu is the recipient of prestigious awards presented by the International Print Biennial, Lodz, Poland (2016); the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2016) ; the Tokyo International Mini Print Triennial (2015); the Guanlan Print Biennale, China (2015), 6th Indonesia International Triennale (2018), The Queen Sonja Print Award, Norway (2016) and recently the Gold Prize at the Ulsan International Print Biennale in South Korea (2019). He currently lives and works in Chiangmai, Thailand.
Praween Piangchoompu透過一系列的雕版印刷，把觀眾帶到一個存放着記憶和情感的虛擬空間。有別於傳統版畫印刷，Piangchoompu創造出獨有的和諧感。一張張看似平凡無奇的畫作背後其實充滿他的想法和故事，繁複的手動版畫印刷工序更是不可或缺。即使是同一色調，每回印刷他都在色澤上作微調以精緻地呈現引人入勝的漸變及質感。這種柔和的立體感令人難以分辨掛在牆上的作品到底屬於哪一種媒體。熟悉的空間及擺設彷彿在暗示一段段進行中的對話，是他與自己的對話，在訴說着不為人知的故事。 這是Piangchoompu在平衡思緒和心靈的一個過程。
Piangchoopu每張作品的創作過程需時幾個月，務求令印刷效果更上一層樓。他花上無數時間和精力在木板上雕刻和打磨，然後塗上調教好的顏料，把雕版精準地對上紙張的界線，再推進印刷機中加壓，之後一絲不苟地清理雕版，待紙張上的顏料完全乾透後又再重複以上工序。每張作品的創作都必需要無比的專注、耐性和決心。傳統版畫印刷作品一般由一至六遍的雕版印製，他卻一反傳統，有些作品甚至經過二十五遍的印刷而成。重複的印刷過程雖然耗時又花功夫，卻成就了Piangchoompu作品中獨一無二的視覺效果，飄渺地展現出物件的質感、空間、體態，而這種微妙的立體感正是他作品的精粹。
Praween Piangchoompu 生於1989，現居泰國清邁。他的作品在地區及國際的展覽中被廣泛展出，當中包括中國美術館北京第八屆國際藝術雙年展（2019）、台灣的國際版畫雙年展（2016）、泰國的泰京藝術獎展覽（2015）。他更於國際間獲獎無數，包括波蘭羅茲國際版畫雙年展（2016）、國立台灣美術館（2016）、東京國際迷你版畫三年展（2015）、廣州觀瀾版畫雙年展（2015）、印尼第六街國際三年展（2018）、挪威的皇后平面藝術獎（2016）及最近於南韓釜山國際版畫雙年展獲得的金獎（2019）。