19 March 2019

Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West
Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il west) will be screened at Smalls, the Bangkok bar, on 24th March. The rooftop screening is free of charge.

13 March 2019

History of Illustration

History of Illustration
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
The Great Wave
The Plumb-pudding in Danger
La Loie Fuller
Action Comics
History of Illustration, edited by Susan Doyle, is the first comprehensive study of illustration from antiquity to the present day. It's also the first global history of illustration, with chapters on Indian, Chinese, Latin American, African, and Islamic illustration in addition to more familiar Western and Japanese material.

The book is structured chronologically, though it also follows three additional narratives: geographical (histories of illustration in each continent), thematic (chapters on the illustration of anatomy, fashion, and propaganda), and technical (essays on developments in printing). The bibliography includes annotated entries on comic illustration, and there are more than 900 images. The definitive history of illustration, this is a unique guide to more than 1,000 years of visual culture.

History of Illustration is a broad overview of the entire subject, though individual forms of illustration have also been comprehensively surveyed. Essential books on each field include: History of Graphic Design, by Philip B. Meggs; A History of Book Illustration, by David Bland, The Poster: A Worldwide Survey and History, by Alain Weill; The Art of the Print: Masterpieces, History, Techniques, by Fritz Eichenberg; A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, by Christopher de Hamel; and The World Encyclopedia of Comics, by Maurice Horn.

12 March 2019

Atta

Atta
Double Life
The Undercover
The Bad Monks
Moral Boundary
Atta (อัตตา) opened at RCB Galleria in Bangkok on 2nd March, and runs until the end of the month. The exhibition features new works by Anupong Chantorn, whose painting Perceptless (ภิกษุสันดานกา) attracted controversy for its depiction of monks as scavenging birds. His solo exhibition Hope in the Dark (ความหวังในความมืด) included Moral Boundary (ชาย-ผ้าเหลือง), a painting of a monk with an erection.

Atta includes a less graphic study for Moral Boundary (ชาย-ผ้าเหลือง), and two preparatory sketches for Perceptless: สันดานกา ('native') and The Bad Monks (ภิกษุสันดานกา). There are also several new paintings, including Double Life (คู่จิ้นจีวรหลุด) and The Undercover (ใต้ผ้ากาสาวพัสตร์). Double Life depicts two monks in an embrace, and The Undercover is a portrait of a monk exposing himself; both were painted directly onto saffron robes. The folio-sized exhibition catalogue was edited by Wanida Rujikietkumjorn.

11 March 2019

Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard will be shown on 17th March at Smalls, the Bangkok bar. The rooftop screening is free of charge.

“The act is deemed hostile to the constitutional monarchy...”


Democracy Monument

On 7th March, as was widely predicted, the Constitutional Court voted to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party and ban its executives from political office for ten years. The party had caused a sensation on 8th February by nominating Princess Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister in the election to be held on 24th March. The nomination was followed by another unprecedented bombshell later that day, when King Rama X issued a statement condemning his elder sister’s involvement in politics. On 13th February, the Election Commission ruled that the nomination was invalid, and recommended the party’s dissolution to the Constitutional Court.

In the court’s verdict, announced on live television, judge Taweekiat Meenakanit severely criticised Ubolratana’s nomination: “The act is deemed hostile to the constitutional monarchy.” He also described it as a “devious scheme”. Thai Raksa Chart is the third party affiliated with Thaksin Shinawatra to be disbanded by the Constitutional Court, after Thai Rak Thai in 2006 and the People Power Party in 2008.

ความจริงวันนั้น



ความจริงวันนั้น (‘the truth about that day’), compiled by the Daily World Today (โลกวันนี้) newspaper, was published in 2010. It includes articles and colour photographs documenting the 2010 red-shirt protests and massacre in Bangkok. The book also includes a VCD, ความจริงประเทศไทย (‘the truth about Thailand’).

สมุดภาพแห่งความทรงจำ

สมุดภาพแห่งความทรงจำ จารึกประวัติศาสตร์ ๑๔ ตุลา ในวาระครบร ๓๖ ปี ๑๔ ตุลา ('photobook of memories thirty-six years after 14th October') was published in 2009. The book includes more than 1,000 images (including newspaper front pages), providing a comprehensive visual archive of the 14th October 1973 demonstration and massacre in Bangkok. It also includes บันทึกไว้ในประวัติศาสตร์ ('recorded in history'), a CD with five songs inspired by the event, which was first released as a 7" EP in 1973.

Several other albums and singles have been recorded in commemoration of the 14th October incident. Phanom Suksaeng's single 14 ตุลาคม เลือดไทยสามัคคี ('14th October: Thai blood and unity') was released shortly after the event. The band Caravan contributed to the album รวมบทเพลงเพื่อชีวิต 14 ตุลาคม 16 ('compilation of songs for life: 14th October '73'). Caravan's albums ตุลา-คม ('sharp October') and 30 ปี คีตนุกรม 14 ตุลา ('30 years: collection of 14th October songs') mark the twenty-fifth and thirtieth anniversaries of the protests, respectively. The album ตุลาธาร ๑๔ คน ๑๔ เพลง ต้องห้าม ('October: 14 people, 14 forbidden songs') also commemorates 14th October, though it includes one song—6 ตุลา ('6th October') by Pongsit Kampee—about the 6th October 1976 massacre. Euthana Mukdasanit adapted Kiss of the Spider Woman (จุมพิตนางพญาแมงมุม) as a stage musical in 2001, during which he projected archive footage of 14th October followed by a list of the victims.

Artists have also been inspired by the massacre. An exhibition of art inspired by the incident, 14 ตุลา ผ่านสายตาศิลปิน ('14th October through artists' eyes', 2003), included Tang Chang's self-portrait depicting the artist's bloodstained face and chest. Pratuang Emjaroen's painting Dhama and Adhama (ธรรมะ-อธรรม) (1974) depicts bullet holes on the Buddha's face. Amnard Yensabye's painting ภาพคนเดือนตุลาคม 2516 (picture of October 1973) is a semi-abstract depiction of the massacre's chaotic aftermath. Sanya Wongaram's woodcut The Ten Days, which depicts soldiers and students, was inspired by press photographs of the massacre.

The United Artists’ Front of Thailand (แนวร่วมศิลปินแห่งประเทศไทย), formed in the aftermath of 14th October, organised an outdoor exhibition of political billboards along Bangkok’s Ratchadamnoen Avenue in 1975. The group promoted socially-conscious ‘art for life’ (‘ศิลปะเพื่อชีวิต’), in parallel with the ‘songs for life’ (‘เพลงเพื่อชีวิต’) movement of bands such as Caravan. (The ‘art for life’ slogan was inspired by Chit Phumisak’s book ศิลปะเพื่อชีวิต ศิลปะเพื่อประชาชน/‘art for life and art for the people’.) Two Artists’ Front retrospective exhibitions have been held at the Pridi Banomyong Institute, both featuring newly commissioned replicas of the 1975 billboards: Political Cut-out Artworks of the October Event (ภาพศิลปะคัทเอาท์การเมืองเดือนตุลา) in 2003 (curated by Nonglak Laowor) and ภาพคัตเอาท์การเมืองเดือนตุลา (‘October political billboard artworks’) from 3rd–20th October 2009.

The Washington Post


The Washington Post

Last week, Johnny Depp filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp is seeking $50 million in damages for an op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post on 19th December last year, headlined “A transformative moment for women”. In the article, published on p. A21, Heard referred to her own experience as an abuse victim—“two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse”—though she did not name Depp directly.

09 March 2019

Chinatown

Chinatown
Chinatown
Roman Polanski's neo-noir masterpiece Chinatown will be shown tomorrow night at the Bangkok bar Smalls. The rooftop screening is free of charge.