© Martin Browne Contemporary © All images copyright Savanhdary Vongpoothorn This catalogue is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. COMPILER: Dean Andersen PHOTOGRAPHY: Brenton McGeachie COLOUR SEPARATIONS: Spitting Image, Sydney PRINTING: Blue Star, Sydney Cover Image: Damming the Naga, 2016, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm
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SAVANHDARY VONGPOOTHORN RAMAYANA ON THE MEKONG Opening: Thursday 29 September 2016, 6-8pm 29 September - 23 October 2016
MARTIN BROWNE CONTEMPORARY 15 HAMPDEN STREET PADDINGTON NSW 2021 TEL: 02 9331 7997 FAX: 02 9331 7050 info@martinbrownecontemporary.com www.martinbrownecontemporary.com GALLERY HOURS: TUESDAY - SUNDAY 10:30AM - 6PM
Ramayana on the Mekong is a painted poem of the Rama Jataka/Phra Lak Phra Lam - a Lao telling of the Indian epic the Ramayana. The Rama Jataka re-imagines the saga taking place along the Mekong River rather than the Ganga, and tells us as much about Lao culture in the 14th century as it does about Rama and Sita. The retelling of the actual Hindu epic, the Valmiki version, occupies only a small portion of the Rama Jataka, while the rest dwells more on Lao Buddhist customs, birth and marriage rites, love poems and explaining about the symbolic meaning of local flora and fauna. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of localising the Ramayana in Laos is the re-situating of the epic’s core narrative - the journeys of Rama and his brother Laksmana - along the axis of the Mekong River from Vientiane in the north to Cambodia in the south. In Laos the Rama Jataka is a sacred text and is read to this day by Buddhist monks during Buddhist lent at temples along the Mekong River, the imaginary scene of these adventures. Inspired by the simultaneous narration technique found in Indian miniature paintings, I have set the scene of this painting in the Naga city of Vientiane and layered it with Lao language quotations from battle scenes in the Rama Jataka. The text in the painting includes repetition of the title of the Lao Ramayana, Phra Lak Phra Lam. Lak is Lao for Laksmana, and Lam is Rama. Rama and Laskmana are believed to be twins or the ‘solid mandala’ in Lao culture. Laksmana comes first in the order of the Lao title of this epic poem to protect the second born from the evil eye. - Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, 2016
LIST OF WORKS Rama was a Migrant (I), 2015, pigment and ink on woven mulberry paper, 78 x 520 cm Ramayana on the Mekong, 2015, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm Naga Shadows, 2016, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm Rama was a Migrant (II), 2016, pigment and ink on woven mulberry paper, 76 x 240 cm Damming the Naga, 2016, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm
Rama was a Migrant (I), 2015, pigment and ink on woven mulberry paper, 78 x 520 cm
Ramayana on the Mekong, 2015, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm
Naga Shadows, 2016, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm
Rama was a Migrant (II), 2016, pigment and ink on woven mulberry paper, 76 x 240 cm
Damming the Naga, 2016, acrylic on perforated canvas, 180 x 300 cm
SAVANHDARY VONGPOOTHORN 1971 Born in Laos 1979 Arrived Australia 1990-92 B.A. Visual Arts. UWS Nepean, Sydney 1993 M.A. Visual Arts. UNSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2016 2014 2013 2011 2008 2005 2004 2003 2002 2000 2000 1998 1998 1997
Ramayana on the Mekong, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney All is Burning, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney The Beautiful as Force, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney Stone down a Well, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Re-enchantment, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney Incantation, Martin Browne Fine Art at The Yellow House, Sydney A Certain Distance, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Martin Browne Fine Art at The Yellow House, Sydney bindi dot tartan zen, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne Niagara Galleries, Melbourne King Street Gallery on Burton, Sydney King Street Gallery, Sydney Holy Threads - Lao Tradition and Inspiration, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, Sydney (exhibited with Lao textiles from 19th & 20th century) Tradition and Interpretation, King Street Gallery, Sydney
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2016 2015 2015 2013 2013 2013 2012 2012 2011 2011 2010 2007 2007 2006 2006 2006 2005 2005 2003 2003
Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney James and Jacqui Erskine Collection, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University Making Connections: Southeast Asian Art @ ANU, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University Crossing Paths III, RAFT artspace, Alice Springs The Imperceptible something..., Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Morten Bay Vibrant Matter, Tarra Warra Museum of Art, Healesville Korea International Art Fair, Niagara Galleries, COEX, Seoul, Korea Melbourne Art Fair, Niagara Galleries, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Korea International Art Fair, Niagara Galleries, COEX, Seoul, Korea Artist Artists, Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra The Story of Australian Printmaking, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Smile of the Buddha, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Canberra Zones of Contact, Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney The Tallis Foundation 2006 National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria Crossing Paths II, Martin Browne Fine Art at the Yellow House, Sydney Echoes of Home: Memory and Mobility in Recent Astral-Asian Art, Museum of Brisbane, Queensland (touring interstate galleries) This and Other Worlds: Contemporary Australian Drawing, National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria Crossing Paths (with Ildiko Kovacs and Roy Jackson), Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney Four, The Holmes Ă Court Gallery, Western Australia
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES 2015 2013 2012 2011 2005 2004 2003 2001 2000 2000 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1993
Australia Council for the Arts - Professional Development Grant Australia India Institute Artists’ retreat, Jaipur, India NAVA Janet Holmes a Court Artist’s Grant NAVA Janet Holmes a Court Artist’s Grant Artist in Residence, Print Media Workshop, Canberra School of Art, ANU Australia Council Grant, New Work Artist in Residence, Painting Workshop, Canberra School of Art, ANU Australia Council Grant/Tokyo studio residency Royal Overseas League travel scholarship Sceggs Redlands Westpac Art Prize 2000 Australia Council Grant - New Work Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (Youth Encouragement Award) 33rd Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (Open Local and Youth Encouragement Award) 32nd Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (Youth Encouragement Award) Mary Alice Evatt Art Award Art Space Studio, Ministry for the Art
COLLECTIONS Allens, Sydney Art Gallery of New South Wales Artbank, Australia Atanaskovic Hartnell, Sydney Australian National University Campbelltown City Art Gallery Janet Holmes à Court Collection Jackson Smith Solicitors, Sydney Jim Wolfensohn World Bank Lady Caruthers Collection, Western Australia Macquarie Group, Australia Macquarie University, Sydney Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria National Gallery of Australia, Canberra National Gallery of Victoria Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art SCEGGS Redlands Sherman Foundation University of Melbourne (Australia India Institute) University of Western Sydney, (Macarthur), NSW University of Western Sydney, (Nepean), NSW University of Wollongong, NSW Westfarmers collection Various private collection