GUNN
CHAIYAPATRANUN Architecture Portfolio Architectural Association School of Architecture
PREFACE AS A CHINESE THAI STUDENT WHO GREW UP IN AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, I WANTED TO DEMONSTRATE NOT ONLY THAI AND CHINESE, BUT ALSO WESTERN INFLUENCES IN MY ARTWORKS. MY INTEREST IN ARCHITECTURE AND UNDERSTANDING OF SPACE HAS BEEN THOUGHTFULLY INCORPORATED THROUGHOUT THIS PORTFOLIO, IN BOTH CONTENT AND LAYOUT. ALTHOUGH MOST WORKS ARE DONE IN MY IB VISUAL ARTS COURSE AT SCHOOL, THERE ARE SOME THAT I’VE CREATED AND EXPERIMENTED WITH ON MY OWN. I’VE ORGANIZED MY 20 PIECES OF WORK CHROMATICALLY, FROM BLACK AND WHITE, AND GRADUALLY WORKING ITS WAY TOWARDS COLOR.
COVER IMAGE: FORBIDDEN CITY, BEIJING, CHINA PREFACE PAGE IMAGE: WAT PHRA THAT DOI SUTHEP, CHIANGMAI, THAILAND (BOTH TAKEN BY GUNN CHAIYAPATRANUN, CANON 7D, IN 2008 and 2013 RESPECTIVELY)
CONTENTS BANGKOK 2 THE CHAO-PHRAYA OF YESTERYEAR 3 KRUNGTHEP 4 INTERLACEMENT OF THE OLD & NEW
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TRASH in PENCIL 7 TRASH in PIGMA 8 STILT HOUSES 9 KRATONE 10 FATIGUE 11 WHITE ROSES 12 OVERCONSUMPTION 13 SAMUDRA MANTHAN 14-18 ZHOU XUAN’S LIFE : PRINTED
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DANTE HELL SCROLL 20-24 CAPULET MANSION 25-26 BALL MACHINE 27 CLUB DESIGN 28 MATCHANU PAPER CUT 29
SIAM - THAILAND
Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen and Paper Size: 30cm x 31cm
Three-Piece series titled “Siam - Thailand”, which depicts the transition of my home country from being initially called Siam to being called Thailand which symbolizes both positive and negative changes in culture, from old to new, and from Thai to foreign. The above is just a reproduction of the pieces, showing how the three pieces were intended to be aligned (as positioned in school exhibitions).
สยามก 1
มกอก
BANGKOK
This piece is the first part of the threepiece series, which demonstrates the gradual increase of foreign influences that Thailand has taken in over the centuries. In this piece, Thailand is still very traditional and culturally intact, showing very few hints of western influences like the barber pole and the utility poles. The stupa in the background is the Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn, which sits on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya river. It is a symbol of old Thailand, and the royal seat of a former dynasty. It is depicted here as old and deteriorating, yet aesthetic and serene.
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Chao Phraya of Yesteryear
เจ้าเ
This piece is the second piece of the same series “Siam to Thailand”. It is a rather metaphoric representation of how the foreign influences arrived in Thailand, as if all of the machinery and foreign technology had washed up on the opposite bank of the Chao Phraya River, the modern metropolitan of Bangkok. It depicts several Thai buildings that were demolished to make way for new foreign buildings, as well as new oneiric gadgets that are seemingly dumped on the banks, while old Thai pillars and the Thai flag deteriorate, and become obsolete. The waters also represent the flood waters of 2011, and how buildings in Bangkok are no longer on stilts, ready to exist harmoniously with the waterway like before. The lotus is a symbol of the purity of buddhism, which is still maintained in Thai hearts despite the foreign influences.
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าเทพ
KRUNGTHEP
This piece is the last part of the series, illustrating downtown Bangkok (known to Thais as Krunthep, literally “the city of angels”) today, bombarded with foreign brands and advertisements plastered all over the Paragon and Central world shopping complexes. The elegantly modest Suan Pakkad Palace (bottom, second quarter from left) is depicted as almost being tucked away on a shelf amidst the towering skyscrapers and the hectic traffic on Ratchaprasong road. Luxurious hotels are being constructed in the background, while the traditional Thai clock tower with Thai numerals (trademark of Central World) is being demolished and being replaced by one of Omega. The cars are purposefully drawn in a contour manner in order to demonstrate the busyness of traffic typical in downtown Bangkok.
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An Interlacement of the Old & New
Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen and Blue Brush-tipped Pen Size: 35cm x 50cm
This piece has a connection to the Siam to Thailand pieces, as it demonstrates the foreign influences in Thai society at a more domestic level. In this piece, traditional Thai technology like matches are juxtaposed with those new ones that foreigners brought like lightbulbs, traditional palm leaf fans with electric ones, and Thai string instruments with iPods and earphones for example. Nonetheless, despite their differences, everything is still connected and interlaced by the ribbon-like blue strokes, demonstrating how Thais can still go together harmoniously with the modern world.
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TRASH in Pencil Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen on Paper Size: 7� x 5�
This is a surrealistic presentation of the excessive littering in my society, an issue that became a big problem during the 2011 floods. The swirling motion of the trash is deliberately composed to be visually similar to that of the water contents of a clogged toilet trying to be flushed away.
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TRASH in Pen Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen on Paper Size: 7” x 5”
This is the same image as the one on the previous page, but in Micron Pen. The clearer and sharper pen lines in this piece demonstrate a younger generation’s view on the same issue, in contrast to the pencil drawing, which demonstrates an elderly person’s clouded and unclear understanding of the issue.
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STILT houses This piece is an observational piece done on a weeklong field trip with my school to a hill tribe in Maehongson, in Northern Thailand. The tin roofs of the stilt houses demonstrate how urbanism is slowly seeping into the Karen community despite its seemingly pure and all-natural appearance of the village.
Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen on Paper Size: A4
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KRATONE Completed: 2013 Medium: EE Pencil on Drawing Paper Size: A4
This piece is an observational drawing of an old Kratone that I found in my grandmother’s house, or the Thai equivalent of a trashcan or spit bowl. Here, I experimented with light, shadows and reflection on the underside of the earthen bowl.
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FATIGUE Completed: 2013 Medium: 2B Pencil on Paper Size: 39cm x 55cm
One day, exhausted after she got home from work, my mother dropped herself and her handbag on the sofa and took a nap. I quickly sketched her handbag as she slept, capturing its state of exhaustion and tiredness that was almost human-like.
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WHITE ROSES Completed: 2013 Medium: EE Pencil on Drawing Paper Size: 39cm x 55cm
White lotuses grow from the filthy mud that lies at the bottom of canals, but bloom into flowers so clean and pure, that they can be used as an offering to the highly revered monks; for this reason, the white lotus is a symbol of the utmost level of purity in Buddhism and Thai society. Today, some Thais feel that foreigners are disrespectful or sacrilegious just because they don’t accord with Thai customs, but this is clearly a misconception. In this piece, the white rose, a foreign flower that is strikingly similar to the white lotus is drawn in a distorted visualization in order to represent how although foreigners are different from Thais, their differences don’t necessarily make them disrespectful or “impure”.
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OVERconsumption Completed: 2013 Medium: Poster Paint on Paper Size: 7� x 5�
This is an oneiric presentation of the prevalent overconsumption and littering of junk and fast foods in my international community. Only warm tones are used in this piece, in order to convey the severity of the widely overlooked issue.
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SAMUDRA MANTHAN
SAMUDRA MANTHAN Completed: 2013 Medium: Watercolor, Temple Gold Paint, Tea, Rice paper Size: 57cm x 79cm
This is a painting of a statue displayed in the Suvarnabhumi Airport of the Samudra Manthan or the churning of the sea of cosmic milk, a Hindu creation myth in which the Devas (gods) took advantage of the Asuras (demons) in the pursuit of Amritha, the elixir of immortality. The works of Thai national artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit and Pakistani-American artist Shazia Sikander inspired the use of negative or empty spaces in this piece, I added a satirical twist to the piece in response to the recent political and social issues in Thailand, including the 2011 floods and corruption in Thai society. Exhibited in a Cultural Convention even in the International School of Manila in February 2013. Enlarged and placed in high school office at school.
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SAMUDRA MANTHAN JOURNAL WORK
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SAMUDRA MANTHAN JOURNAL WORK
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周 璇 ZHOU XUAN’s LIFE : PRINTED Completed: 2013 Medium: Screen printing ink and acrylic Size: 70cm x 50cm
Zhou Xuan was arguably one of the most prominent singers in early 20th century china, whose life was tarnished by a series of unsuccessful marriages, illegitimate children and pressure that the Cultural Revolution put on Chinese artists at the time. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych greatly inspired this piece. The torn paper coming off the canvas makes the whole painting resemble to a wall plastered with old musical posters, and each reproduction of Zhou Xuan’s face represents a specific chapter of her life from childhood until her death in a mental asylum.
周 璇
DANTE’s HELL SCROLL Completed: 2013 Medium: Chinese Ink, Modeling clay, Acrylic, Chinese stamp Size: 54’’ x 27’’
This piece depicts a fantastical scene from the Mahapadma Naraka, or a level of cold hell in Buddhism, the modeling clay that shapes the icy cave of hell represents the element of surprise of cold hells in contrast to the traditional ink painting method (with the aid of a few paintings I had at home from which I learned to mimic the style). This was also an attempt to recreate the hell scrolls that existed in oriental countries. Cold hells also appear in Christianity, and in Dante’s Inferno, from which an excerpt was taken and translated into Chinese idioms on bottom the left of the scroll. This piece shows the element of surprise of cold hells, reflected by the surprising use of mixed media, the juxtaposition of the modeling clay over the traditional painting. It also demonstrates the Chinese culture which I have been exposed to as a child, as my mother is from Shanghai, China.
地獄
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DANTE’s HELL SCROLL JOURNAL WORK
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DANTE’s HELL SCROLL JOURNAL WORK
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The Capulet Mansion
THE CAPULET MANSION Completed: 2012 Medium: SketchUp Size: 21.5 MB
This project was initially part of an English assignment in response to Romeo & Juliet we studied in class, and is a model of a supposed residence of the Capulet Family. The original piece submitted was rudimentary, and lacked detail, as it was my first time using SketchUp. But I continued to work on the piece from then on until it has become the building complex that it is today. The attached are only a few screenshots taken in the building compound, but a whole city of Verona, complete with a river, hills and bridges was designed.
BALL MACHINE Completed: 2012 Medium: Pinewood, Copper, Metal Balls, Motor Size: 13” x 18” x 15”
This piece was intended to mimic the lifestyle of Bangkok city dwellers. The motor that carries the metal balls up by magnet is in the shape of a sun, demonstrating how the sun is always glaring down at Bangkok, causing the heat that we have almost all year round. The elevated copper spirals represent the highways of Bangkok, the wooden funnel at the end is a simplified model of the BACC (Bangkok Art and Culture Center), in the center of downtown Bangkok, shaped similar to the Guggenheim museum in New York from the inside. As the ball falls down, towards the beginning of the cycle, it stops, waiting to be pushed by the next ball over the small ledge formed by the copped wires. This forms a stop and jerk motion similar to that in Traffic in Bangkok. Several trials and timing was crucial to make this work.
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CLUB DESIGN Completed: 2013 Medium: Pen on Paper (Scanned and Text added on Photoshop) Size: A4
To the right is one of several posters that I made to promote our Rural Development Club at school. This was a club that helped to sell vegetables grown by the local farmers in Khon Kaen province north of Bangkok. This was to help expand the limited market that the farmers had, and to ensure that their products get sold fresh, and that they are able to earn profit. I made a series of contour drawings of vegetables (Kale and Lettuce in this one) using a blue ballpoint pen, and used a brush tipped pen to create the cabbage shaped logo on the bottom (color edited on photoshop). Below, is a poster that I made for another club in which I was an organizer (and translator for english-speaking teachers and Thai-speaking caretakers at the childcare center). The sparrow home club is a club in which volunteers helped take care of young children (3-10 y.o.) whose parents are serving time in Thai prisons. This was also an experiment on hand drawn typography for me, in which I also incorporated images, like the sparrow
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MATCHANU PAPER CUT Completed: 2014 Medium: Red Paper, Sa Paper Size: 54” x 27”
This piece depicts a scene from the Thai national epic Ramakien, based on the Hindu Ramayana. In this scene, Matchanu, a hybrid between a monkey humanoid and a mermaid attacks Hanuman, oblivious of the fact that Hanuman is his father. This piece was meant to reflect my life, how I am from a Thai-Chinese background, and how I’m learning in an international environment, which makes myself in a sense, a multicultural chimaera. Sometimes, in order to avoid discrimination or ridicule, I had to resort to abandoning and going against my true progenitors. The media in itself is also multicultural, as the red paper is similar to that of Chinese traditional paper cuts, yet the cuts themselves are based on those done on traditional Thai shadow puppets.
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GUNN CHAIYAPATRANUN’S PORTFOLIO