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Lot Essay
Damrong Wong-Uparaj is one of Thailand’s most prolific painters to emerge out of the later half of the 1950s. Having studied at the renowned Silpakorn University in Bangkok, he went on to study at the Slade School of Fine Art and the University of Pennsylvania. Damrong’s works are a combination of both Thai tradition and Western techniques, giving them their unique style and characteristics. Boats and Houses on Stilts (Lot 454) typifies Damrong’s modern style that pays homage to the traditional everyday life of the Thai people, through his idealised vision rendered in modern lines and tones.
The Chao Phraya River that defines much of the central region of Thailand and as such, is considered the life-blood of the local people. Damrong captures this sense of the symbiotic relationship between the Thai people and the river in Boats and Houses on Stilts, depicting the traditional homes and mode of transport for a significant portion of the nation’s population. A heavy cluster of traditional wooden houses built on stilts, foregrounded by a few fishing boats, dominates the pictorial landscape that appears to be deserted. With no apparent narrative, the viewer is forced to focus on the beauty and architectural wonder of the traditional rural lifestyle of Thailand; the lattice of lines that run through the canvas create a rhythm that mimics the buzz of daily life. The present lot highlights Damrong’s masterful ability to create harmony by juxtaposing accents of bright reds and greens against the otherwise neutral tones, as well as by contrasting the strong horizontal lines of the boats with poles that stick up from the water.
An excellent example of Damrong’s more representational works, Boats and Houses on Stilts evokes an aesthetic of minimalism and cubism, simplifying complex objects into elegant lines and shapes and breathing a fresh breath of modernity into the traditional. Damrong’s work has been showcased at notable international exhibitions in London, France, Florence, New York, Philippines, India, and Singapore.
The Chao Phraya River that defines much of the central region of Thailand and as such, is considered the life-blood of the local people. Damrong captures this sense of the symbiotic relationship between the Thai people and the river in Boats and Houses on Stilts, depicting the traditional homes and mode of transport for a significant portion of the nation’s population. A heavy cluster of traditional wooden houses built on stilts, foregrounded by a few fishing boats, dominates the pictorial landscape that appears to be deserted. With no apparent narrative, the viewer is forced to focus on the beauty and architectural wonder of the traditional rural lifestyle of Thailand; the lattice of lines that run through the canvas create a rhythm that mimics the buzz of daily life. The present lot highlights Damrong’s masterful ability to create harmony by juxtaposing accents of bright reds and greens against the otherwise neutral tones, as well as by contrasting the strong horizontal lines of the boats with poles that stick up from the water.
An excellent example of Damrong’s more representational works, Boats and Houses on Stilts evokes an aesthetic of minimalism and cubism, simplifying complex objects into elegant lines and shapes and breathing a fresh breath of modernity into the traditional. Damrong’s work has been showcased at notable international exhibitions in London, France, Florence, New York, Philippines, India, and Singapore.