Hello people! Hope you are well and ready to discover something new with your humble servant, Westminster’s Cinderella))
Today my historical fact for you, dears, is going to be about the magician in many ways, whose name is Walter Elias Disney! Exactly 94 years ago on the very same day (29th of January) he started his first job as an artist with a salary $40 per week in KC Slide Co (later renamed the Kansas City Film Ad Company) where he was making short commercials to appear before movies. That’s where Disney learnt about animation and then felt confident enough to start his own business. Definitely, there are more interesting facts about his life and work but today I am concentrating on Thailand and its wonders. However, I thought of sharing this particular fact because exactly on this day many years ago this absolutely fantastic man and artist started his creative journey that brought happiness to many children (including myself) and their parents too.
In my previous article, I ended up as a tourist willing to dive into the world of creativity, and therefore I decided to make a stop at MOCA (Museum Of Contemporary Art) in Bangkok . And I would like to begin this story with thanking Boonchai Bencharongkul and very soon you will understand why. It’s not just a person with such a difficult Asian name. He is a Thai billionaire who founded the wonderful museum in which I was able to discover the world of modern/historical Thailand through creative expression and thoughts of Asian artists .
Since the museum is fairly new (it was opened March 23, 2012), the internet is not an endless ocean of the museum’s information and reviews. Fortunately, I’m not the internet, but a woman-encyclopedia and I hope that today, you will learn a lot about the MOCA while reading my blog (well, I’ll tell you a secret that I didn’t keep only emotions, inspiration, souvenirs from my incredible visit, but also a booklet telling about the museum, so that today’s article I will write together, side by side with the brochure)
The museum itself is a magical mix, uniting tradition and innovative art, presenting religion while using new techniques and different creative points of view, which gives some unearthly look to the works and the atmosphere of the museum helps to dive into another fantastic world (my own opinion).
In addition to that, the rooms in the building are quite spacious and the pictures are located at such a distance from each other, that allowing the space kind of breathe and it favors for the flight of the visitors’ thoughts. I would say that everything here is considered and organised till very small details. There are benches, where you can sit comfortably, without leaving that picturesque world which is opening in front of your eyes. Moreover, all the benches also illustrate that it’s a museum of modern art. The seats made in the creative unexpected forms, with different additions, such as mushrooms, smooth bends and so on. Each bench is itself an art object of the museum!
The staff working in the building, are very friendly, responsive and always ready to show the “road to the treasures”, where by the treasures I mean those artistic objects, which the museum conceals inside itself.
Since finding the building was comparable to looking for a needle in a haystack, I deliberately attached a map in the post. If you have an opportunity to visit this cultural place, be sure to use this map as it was not that simple and easy to find MOCA. After a very fast and comfortable trip on the local subway, I had to take a taxi to the museum itself. Knowing that most taxi drivers’ vocabulary consist of only ten English words (or around this number), I prepared the MOCA’s address written in both languages: English and Thai (unfortunately, I did not have the map at the time). Now imagine such a scene: dozens of taxis stand in a line, I am reaching the first driver, giving him the address through the car’s open window, he looks at me and reads the note and closes the window. Then I come to the next driver, and the situation repeats few times. I want to believe that the writing in Thai was correct, as I wasn’t the one who wrote it down and, obviously, I was a bit shocked by the drivers’ reaction. It seemed to me that I was asking them to take me to the gates of hell or some other sinister place. One driver straight away gave me back my piece of paper, shut the door abruptly and made it clear that I should go. Finally, I found my hero (he was approximately the 10th driver I came to) who wished to help. However, this cabman, such a good and kind old man, did not understand that I was looking for a museum, and, ironically, drove me to the building of MOCA, but it was a hospital. Yes, the hospital with the exact same acronym as the museum. Our next stop was still a building called the MOCA (but not the one I needed) and for the third time grandpa-driver found the way to Museum of Modern Art , the one that I wanted to visit. I truly hope that one day the map I posted here will help some of you to find this top-secret museum if you wish to.
Considering the lasting impression that MOCA gave me, I’d love to share my experience of seeing and feeling there, even if it’s a baby-drop in the stormy ocean of diversity.
The first painting that clearly seized my mind and looked memorable to me, was the work by Sriwan Jenhatthakarnkit called “Dancing”. At first sight, the picture seems a little bit chaotic, like a mix of bright spots, you can see just a crazy fun party, but if you look closely, you can observe a very detailed intriguing storyline with different characters. We see a girl dancing with a skeleton; one figure interacts with another one, as if merging into the one. There is a large bright puzzle that consists of few separate stories. In my opinion, the picture expresses the 21st century full of noise, fun and festivities, when each of us in varying degrees, dancing with the death (welcome to the most positive WordPress’ blog, lol)).
The second picture that clearly imprinted in my memory as if someone pressed the “stop” button while I was looking at the painting was “Glamorous Night in Bangkok” by Preecha Panklum. It is impossible to pass the picture, it shouts out for itself, it involves and immerses the visitor in the running world of bright colors. I believe that the work shows us the modern world, so dynamic and flying by, but at the same time leaving the flash and rainbow trail in our memory.
My third wonder of this artistic world called MOCA is not the only picture, but a series with the title «Universe». After reading a brief biography of the artist Pratuang Emjaroenratuang, some facts of his life and a description of the pictures on the official MOCA website (http://www.mocabangkok.com/) , I decided not to fantasize myself but use the information directly from the site. According to the site Pratuang “has lived along the river on the bank of Thonburi which was full of abundant fruit farming and the rice field. His life and surrounding environment was simple and peaceful. The fresh water and hundreds of trees made Pratuang appreciating the great quality of nature and sufficient living”. As a painter, he tried himself in different techniques and styles while not having an art-degree, being a self-taught artist.
Abstract series of Pratuang’s works gave me a strong impression. The “Universe” presents the existence of nature , the sun, moon and stars (as stated on the website). They are composed together to generate forms, colors and lights while creating fascinating movement. The work implies to hidden morality that represents confidence and belief, which reminds the audience of the nature’s beauty and all goodness of the world.
I believe everything has an end and so my story does…I do hope you become interested in the paintings I mentioned above and the museum itself and, perhaps, you will visit this magical place where imagination has no bounds. Maybe one day, YOU will tell me about your journey into the world of art.
Let your life’s palette be bright and harmonic for you. In other words, be happy and keep reading my blog)))
See you soon!