JULES KAY MEETS FOUR SAMUI-BASED ARTISTS TO DISCUSS THEIR INNOVATIVE WORK. PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIPON RIABRIANG

KOH SAMUI IS NOT YET RENOWNED FOR ITS artistic influences, but the Thai island is home to a number of talented painters, sculptors and other creative souls. As the tourist and resident communities become more sophisticated, there is a growing appreciation of original art. Read on to meet Samui’s new breed of artists.

CREATIVE SPIRIT

Khun June is one of the best-known artists on Koh Samui. She has lived on the island for the past 11 years, having arrived from Bangkok when she lost her job in the advertising industry during a downturn. She works hard to pull the island’s artistic community together and has introduced many people to the diversity and spirit to be found in art on Samui.

“I was originally drawn by the idea of being on an island,” she says, “being completely separate from my old life and from the stress of the big city. Samui was an escape, but it soon became a passion.”

June uses mixed media, including paint, metals and wood to create contemporary pieces of art full of symbols that send messages about nature and modern life. She is currently focusing on the fusion of bronze and wood, while also experimenting with different shapes such as circular frames, which she says don’t “box in” her work. She often juxtaposes different elements to create harmony or contrast, placing a plastic bottle in a forest, for example, to challenge the viewer’s perceptions of the world around them. “The idea of using comparison came when I looked at my life in Bangkok and my life on Koh Samui,” she explains. “It is also a lesson for the island and its future.”

June doesn’t belong to a specific artists’ group, but does own and run two cafés in Bophut and Nathon. She displays work by local artists, provides books on alternative lifestyles and serves healthy food. Every Full Moon she holds a “Seva Day”, offering free food and inviting people to sit down, to share ideas and meet in the spirit of community. Both cafés have become popular focal points for many creative minds on the island: people are drawn to each one in search of an alternative to Samui’s more commercial options.

June believes in creating art as inspiration, and though she understands people who copy works of art on Samui to sell to the tourists, she would never do so herself. “People need to make a living,” she says, “and by copying other paintings and artwork they can produce pieces quickly. But I would rather create my own work exactly as I see it, even if I had to live on air.”

MIDAS TOUCH

Khun Khanchai has created a niche on Koh Samui by combining commercial work with pure art. He creates everything from attractive plates, bowls and cups to large abstract pieces of pottery at his workshop and showroom in Mae Nam, and he has built a strong reputation over the last 10 years. His work can be seen in hotels and spas all over the island, as well in private homes and villas, across Thailand and overseas. Khanchai originally moved to Samui looking for inspiration, but actually found it on a trip back to his home in Songkhla Province where he met a well-known ceramics teacher and began reflning his craft in earnest.

“The island gave me plenty of ideas for my designs,” he explains. “But it took some time to develop the skills to make them real. I still travel home regularly to discuss new techniques and compare notes.”

Despite commercial success, Khanchai is still personally involved in 90% of the pieces produced from his two giant kilns. Special techniques such as glazing with wood ash mean many of his creations are totally organic and his designs often reflect the island’s natural elements.

“Local clay is more difficult to work with because it cracks easily when flred,” he says. “But the deep colours and textures allow me to create pieces that come straight from the island’s heart, the very earth it is made of.”

Untreated clay can take a month to dry before it is ready to flre and the extreme temperatures required to glaze the pieces sometimes cause bubbles or distortions. But Khanchai is happy to take his time, meticulously testing the flring process with samples before each stage and working with his bare hands to mould and manipulate the clay. In this way, he creates stunning, physical metaphors that speak volumes about the island and its origins.

“A walk along the beach shows you how nature creates patterns and shapes to inspire us,” he explains. “Pick up a piece of old wood and you can see its character carved in the grain. I do the same with my ceramics and sometimes even the imperfections add to the art.”

FREEDOM PAINTER

Chana Kuanliang, or Khun Noi, is something of a maverick, even for Samui. He came to the island 15 years ago to escape what he calls the “controlling interests of the art world in Bangkok” and still believes all pure art should be produced naturally and spontaneously. Although he trained in watercolours, Noi has since moved beyond the more established genres, inspired by the island to take a more spiritual approach to his work.

“Improvising keeps your soul alive,” he explains. “I paint without restrictions. I open myself through meditation and see what comes out. It’s exciting because I am never sure what the end result will be.”

Noi’s work has received praise from artist communities in countries like Japan and Taiwan, where his pieces have been described a “mystic art” based on their spiritual qualities and a vivid use of colour. He usually paints while sitting on the ground – another break from tradition – and the two simple rooms that double as his home and studio are generally covered with splashes of paint and water.

“I do not lock myself away or even stop people from touching my work,” he says. “When my paintings are lying on the floor drying I am happy for my son or my customers to walk all over them. These random moments are an important part of the creative process.”

To make a living, Noi also uses his skills to design and apply tattoos at his shop in the Big Buddha temple complex. He enjoys meeting people from other cultures and says he gets a lot of energy from pleasing his customers, despite the physical pain. “I sometimes copy images in my tattoos, but am not interested in reproducing other people’s paintings,” he adds. “Too many talented artists have lost their inspiration by copying other people’s work for money. But Buddhism teaches us that we come from nothing and go back to nothing. Every moment in between should be seen as an opportunity for creativity.”

SCREEN DREAM

Pornchai Pongsupamat, or Khun Mong, brought his own form of art to Samui 20 years ago after visiting the island on holiday with friends. He quickly saw an opportunity to combine his skills with business, and never left. With a background in commercial design, Mong decided to produce original T-shirts and sell them to tourists. His two shops in Nathon became the only places on the island to buy hand-painted designs and since then many of his images have literally travelled the globe.

“When I flrst started I was drawing every single picture on every shirt,” says Pornchai, “but then I began to use screen printing techniques. I still draw all the images myself; using the screens allows me to produce more pieces with the same design.”

Screen printing by hand is a complicated process, but Mong has resisted the urge to buy machines to do the job, preferring to apply is his own creative energy. Each original image is drawn onto a transparent overlay, which is then framed in wood to make a screen. This is then coated with emulsion and left to dry in the dark. Once dry, another overlay is placed over the emulsion-coated screen and it is exposed to a light source that passes through the clear areas and creates a polymerization, or hardening, of the emulsion. The screen is then washed off thoroughly and the areas of emulsion that were not exposed to light dissolve and wash away, leaving a negative stencil of the image on the mesh that can be transposed onto the T-shirts as many times as required.

“I like to choose images that relate to the island, my country and my beliefs,” says Mong. “Even the letters of the Thai alphabet are an art form. I also sometimes add words in English, especially when they represent the spirit of the people who said them.” Mong has created over 300 original T-shirt designs and still works hard towards drawing and printing new images while at the same time managing his business. He has built up a loyal following in several countries and was recently persuaded to launch a website to display his work.

“I will probably never get rich doing this, but I am happy to live simply, doing something I love. I have never taught anyone else the process. So, unless my son decides to take over when he flnishes his studies in Bangkok, the T-shirts will be my personal legacy.”

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